Failure to Admit / Premature Discharge

The premature discharge of patients from an emergency room can have devastating consequences ranging from permanent disability to death. If a doctor refuses to admit or treat a patient without ever considering the patient's current medical condition, may mean medical malpractice occurred.

There could be times when a patient is not triaged correctly and misjudges how emergent your medical issue is. If that happens you may not be seen by an emergency room doctor which results in a serious medical problem that requires admission to the hospital being missed. Even if seen by an emergency room doctor, they may not get a full medical history from you, miss important symptoms you are exhibiting, misdiagnose you, and discharge you as a result. The doctor may also not order important diagnostic tests such as blood work, x-rays, or CT scans that should have been ordered to give an accurate picture of your problems. The emergency room has a duty to stabilize and monitor patients until they are discharged, transferred to other emergency rooms, or admitted to the hospital. There is a limit to the care some emergency rooms can provide. Some patients will need special care and will require hospital admission or a transfer to a different emergency room. When the emergency room delays the transfer, the patient's medical care is also delayed, and serious potentially fatal consequences can occur. If you or a loved one was injured because an ER facility failed to admit you or prematurely released you, consult with one of our experienced Upstate New York medical malpractice lawyers at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano to determine if you have a right to compensation based on the provider's mistake.

When to discharge a patient from a hospital or other medical facility is a tricky decision. It requires a balance of many factors, and there is a lot of room for error. If a patient is discharged too early, there could be serious consequences, such as worsening of a condition or symptoms, infections, pain, and even death.

If a patient is sent home too early there could be multiple consequences. Studies have found that readmission is one consequence of early discharge from the hospital. They have also found that about 25% of those readmissions could have been prevented, often by choosing a later discharge time or date. Readmission is not desirable because it is more costly, exposes patients to the risk of infection, causes more distress, and keeps a patient away from home, work, and family for longer.

There are some indications that you may have been prematurely released, in which case the hospital and individual health care providers might be liable for ER errors such as:

• A physician did not examine you before discharge.
• You are still in pain or suffering the same symptoms that brought you to the ER.
• You were released without going through diagnostic screenings, such as lab work, x-rays, or imaging tests.
• You did undergo screenings, but ER staff discharged you before reviewing the results.
• Healthcare providers did not give a diagnosis of your medical condition.
• Upon release, you were not provided with instructions for at-home care.
• The ER staff did not schedule a follow-up appointment with your primary care physician.

If you have been injured because of emergency room malpractice, our attorneys may be able to help you recover damages from the responsible parties. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents patients in Syracuse, Rochester, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Oswego, Canandaigua, Utica, Wampsville, Oneida, Lowville, Watertown, Herkimer, Delhi, Cortland, Norwich, Elmira, Auburn, and Binghamton. We are experienced medical malpractice lawyers so call today for your free consultation at 833-200-2000.