Scott Baldwin Hasn't Been on 'General Hospital' Because of an Actual Hospital Visit

Few characters have a longer history on General Hospital than Scott Baldwin. The character has been played by a number of different actors over the decades, and has been on the show all the way back into the 1960s. While Scott has not been a consistent character in that time, he has shown up and disappeared throughout the years.

In 2024, though, Scott is very much a part of the world of General Hospital, which is why many regular viewers have noticed that he is absent from the show's most recent episodes. Naturally, they want to know what happened to Scott, and when the character might be back on the show.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like this is one of those occasions where Scott is going to be gone for an extended period. Instead, Scott has been absent from the show because Kin Shriner, the actor who plays him, had foot surgery and is now in recovery. He has been wearing a boot since early July, and it looks like he won't be able to make his return to the show until he's fully healed.

On Aug. 13, Kin wrote on Twitter that he was "Counting days till out of boot and back to my favorite pastime @Vespa_Official and acting," meaning that he was eager to get back to his work on the show, just as many fans are eager to see Scott back on their TVs. For now, though, they'll have to deal with a dry spell where Scott remains offscreen.

Soap fans and writers are used to these kinds of adaptations, and have always found creative ways to write characters out of the show temporarily, or to write around them until they can be back on screen. Scott is an essential piece to General Hospital, but the show should be able to work around him at least until Kin is back in shape and ready to return to the role.

Although Kin is playing one of the show's most long-running characters, he has had a somewhat tumultuous history with the show. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in May of 2023 that he had been fired, but that turned out not to be true, and he wound up continuing on with the show.

He's also disappeared from the show in the past for reasons that had nothing to do with his personal health. Writers can decide when and where to use their preferred characters basically however they want, and Kin is at the mercy of those writers.

Of course, it helps that he's playing a widely beloved character with a long history on the show. This time, though, it seems like Scott will be back in relatively short order. Fans will have to have some patience during Kin's recovery, but there's been no indication that the character is going to be written off for a longer stretch this time around.