When Your Hospital Care is Not What You Expected

I recently consulted with a client who was seeking advocacy counseling for a “nightmare” hospitalization she experienced. She told me that she did not receive safe and patient-centered care. She told me that she had been heavily medicated with an anti-anxiety drug that rendered her unaware of what was going on around her. She claims that she found herself outside the hospital in a patient gown, sitting curbside on a busy street, apparently having been discharged.  She has no recall of any details leading up to these circumstances.

When you find yourself in such a scenario, the first thing you need to do is to get a copy of your medical records for that hospitalization.  The records will give you clarity as to what your care looked like while you were a patient in that facility. In order to obtain those records,  call the hospital’s main number and ask to be transferred to the Medical Records Department.  Tell them you need a copy of your medical records and give them the dates  of the hospitalization. You will most likely be required to fill out a Release Form. They will most likely charge you for the copy of your records, usually about a $1 per page.  If you have them sent to a doctor or an attorney, there is usually no cost.  Be sure to have their mailing addresses available for such purpose. 

In addition, you should also google The Patient Bill of Rights and review it to see if any of your rights were in fact violated by the agents of the facility.  That gives you more credibility to the claims you are making. 

Once you receive your medical records and based on what they indicate about the care you received… or did not receive…there are other strategic steps you can take to get some satisfaction and/or closure about what happened to you. While awaiting your records, you can start creating a written summary of what happened to you.  Include the recollections of any friends or family members that were with you at your bedside. Be detailed, objective and succinct. Speak from your brain not from your heart. Include: 

• reason for trip to hospital

• Dates of hospitalization

• Diagnostic tests done and their results

• Medications which you normally take at home

• Medications which you were given in the hospital

• Medical history

• Names of doctors who cared for you while you were in the hospital.

• Circumstances of your discharge. Did they discharge you or did you leave on your own? Did you sign an Against Medical Advice discharge form? If so, were you medically/mentally competent to make such a decision at the time?

• Did you sustain any injury based on the medical or nursing care you received while in the hospital? As a result of your discharge process?

• List any of your patient rights that might have been violated while in the hospital

  ( The Patient Bill of Rights). 

  Once you do all of the above, if it is determined that your care was unsafe or mismanaged,  you can speak with a malpractice attorney to see if you have a viable lawsuit. Have your written summary in front of you when you talk to the attorney and be as detailed and objective as you can be.  Keep in mind that there is a 3 year Statute of Limitations for medical malpractice or personal injury law suits in North Carolina.  

  
  Other strategic steps you can take once you create your written summary:

  1. You will usually receive a patient survey of your hospital experience. Be sure to send them your written summary of what happened to you.

  
  2. Send your written summary to the hospital’s medical director and/or CEO.  You can google such persons to get their contact info. Or call the hospital’s main number and get the contact info you need. 

  
  3. If the hospital does not resolve your complaint you may take it to your state Department of Health. This information should be located on your hospital’s website as well as on your state’s Department of Health web portal.

  
  4.  Send your written summary to the hospital’s Patient-Family Advisory Council or other comparable committee at the hospital.

  
  5. Send your written summary to a local TV consumer reporter. 

  
  6. If you get no satisfaction from the hospital, you can send your summary to the 

  Joint Commission’s Office of Quality Monitoring  which is a non-profit group that accredits and certifies the quality and care standards in many American hospitals.

  The address is: The Joint Commission - Office of Quality Monitoring

                              One Renaissance Blvd

     Oakbrook, Illinois  60181

                        800-994-6610