The Dangers Associated With Hospital Discharge Errors

No one enjoys being in the hospital, and patients look forward to their discharge so they can return home. However, a crucial aspect of a doctor’s and a medical facility’s duty of care is to ensure that a patient is discharged from care safely, at the right time, with the key information and the necessary ability to care for themselves during their recovery. When a medical provider violates this duty of care, the result can be serious harm to the patient. An experienced Chicago medical malpractice lawyer can evaluate your case.

What Is Negligence During the Patient Discharge Process?

Discharge from a hospital is a specialized process requiring a skilled evaluation of the patient’s condition, assessing their stability, ensuring they have the necessary information to continue their care at home, and confirming that they have a caregiver as needed, and that the caregiver has the required information. Unfortunately, sometimes doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators cut corners or make mistakes and oversights. When this occurs, it’s actionable negligence, and the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit if the negligence causes harm to the patient.

Types of Negligence During Hospital Discharge

Medical providers and hospital staff must coordinate and communicate effectively during a patient’s discharge to ensure that no key detail is overlooked. Common dangerous errors during discharge include the following:

• Premature discharge, or releasing a patient whose condition hasn’t yet stabilized, who has symptoms of infection, or who isn’t yet able to care for themselves and needs nursing assistance
• Providing inadequate or incomplete discharge information
• Making medication mistakes when noting the types, dosage, and timing of medications in the patient’s discharge instructions
• Discharge without necessary prescriptions
• Inadequate home care instructions for the patient and/or caregiver
• Failing to ensure that the patient is being discharged into a safe environment
• Discharging a patient before receiving and interpreting their final test results
• Failure to schedule follow-up treatment
• Discharge and abandonment, or failing to ensure that a patient has a place to go after their discharge
• Wrong patient discharge

If a doctor, care staff, or hospital administrator makes an error or oversight during the discharge process, the result can be grave danger to the patient.

Dangers Associated With Hospital Discharge Errors

When medical providers improperly discharge a patient, the result can be an adverse outcome, worsened medical condition, serious injury, or even death. Common dangers associated with hospital discharge errors include the following:

• Post-operative infections
• Medication mistakes
• Blood clots
• Pulmonary embolism
• Pneumonia
• Sepsis
• Falls

A medical research study on hospital discharge errors found that about a quarter of errors had no harmful effects, but 2.28% caused serious harm, and 1.04% caused the patient’s death.

Proving Medical Malpractice For a Hospital Discharge Error

Doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators all play important roles in the safe discharge of a patient. When one or more of these entities makes an error or oversight, it’s medical malpractice. Proving malpractice occurred requires evidence demonstrating the following elements:

• A doctor/patient relationship was in place when the discharge error occurred
• The medical provider owed a legal duty of care to the patient, requiring them to treat the patient at the standard of care accepted by the medical community
• They breached this duty of care through negligence
• The breach of duty directly caused injury or harm to the patient
• The patient suffered damages from the negligence

If a discharge error causes a patient’s death, the family has the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent medical provider or facility.

A Chicago medical malpractice attorney can help an injured patient or their family recover the full compensation they deserve for their physical and financial losses resulting from a hospital discharge error.