You raise an interesting point, DonJon. Logically, if the job the guys were given was to protect Michael, they would have stayed with him at the hospital. But FFC was seeking to make a very dramatic scene, and it was--Michael, alone, visits the hospital and finds it deserted, knows his father and he are in mortal danger, acts courageously and resourcefully...
Off topic, but I've always felt it was in that scene where Michael chose his path, not when he volunteered to hit Sol and Mick. Michael became a Mafioso the minute he moved his father into the other room.
