As our U S medical care seems to get worse and worse, I have heard that more and more patients are being sent home from a hospital without any or minimal discharge planning. I was accustomed to having a discharge meeting for patients with all of the specialists involved, so we would know what each specialist wanted done. I also wanted to be sure someone would be there to be sure the patient was getting adequate care, to give the patient their meds, food etc.
I have heard too many horror stories about patients being sent home with no one at home to care for them, particularly if they were not able to do anything for themselves. This is particularly true of older, widowed or individuals without a family. My own widowed brother was sent home from a Las Vegas hospital without any notification to me. He ended up falling and breaking his arm. The one person the hospital did send out was a speech therapist, when he did not need one, and she was one who found him alone with his broken arm and no food in the house. Anyone, particularly with an elderly friend or relative in a hospital must insist that adequate discharge planning be done and the friend or family member know exactly what needs to be done and who to call if there are any problems.
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