Ami and others, unsafe discharge speech

November 22, 2006

-Dear Ami,

I was exhausted simply reading your post. When I was very ill I was

worried about my husband because he, like you, was trying to do it

all. If you become so overwhelmed that you cannot care for your son,

who would do it? That's a question to ask the social workers who, in

my opinion, should be doing a heckuva lot more to provide experienced

medical care for your son in a non-hospital setting if he is to be

discharged.

Every so often I give my rant about those magic words " unsafe

discharge. " If you, or anyone else (patient or caretaker) is

convinced that the patient is not well enough to be discharged, there

are steps you can take. There are certain guidelines for discharge

regarding eating, eliminating, fever, etc. If you genuinely feel that

the patient will not be discharged to a safe environment, with all of

the supportive help/procedures IN PLACE, then simply state that you

consider this to be an " unsafe discharge. " This is a simple legal

" heads up " to the hospital staff that you do not agree with the

discharge and that they must re-assess the patient to make SURE THAT

HE OR SHE WILL BE DISCHARGED TO A SAFE ENVIRONMENT. This assessment

is not done quickly or lightly and, at the very least, will buy you

some time to check out what plans are in place. This approach is not

to be used lightly. No one can force you to sign discharge papers and

I doubt that anyone in social services would question your concern for

your son.

Are you whining? I think not. Someone at the hospital needs a slap

upside the head in the legal sense.

Good luck!

Penny

-- In , Ami Fox wrote:

>mi

> mom to - 8 yrs - Double Lung Tx 2/26/2006, PSC - Pre-Liver

Tx, Central DI, Steroid Induced Diabetes, HypoT, GERD, High BP, ADD,

Anemia, Malabsorption, No Motility

> mom to Emma - 12 yrs - Migraines, otherwise healthy

> stepmom to - 13 yrs - ADD, RAD

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

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