Carl is told by a ward clerk that his mother is dead. This would not happen in any hospital in the United States. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) protects a person/families privacy. Carl wasn't even asked what his relationship was to the person he was asking about. Much less being asked to prove it. All hospitals have training employees for years about privacy. New employees all go through orientation classes. Once they finish class they are then paired with someone for a given period of time. To be sure they have mastered their basic job skills.
It is never a ward clerks job to pass on such news. R.N.'s and M.D.'s typically talk to families. This is done to avoid the kind of callous update that was shown on this episode.
As Carl, Mike and Samuel are driving from Chicago, IL to Memphis, TN, they pass an exit for US Interstate 4, which is entirely within the state of Florida. It runs from Daytona Beach to Tampa.