Over 100,000 more patients left hospitals against medical advice (AMA) in 2008 than a decade earlier, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported. That brought the total number of patients leaving hospitals early to 370,000, approximately 2 percent of all acute care hospital patients. Researchers at the agency speculated economic factors outside of hospital control may have influenced the rise, such as lack of insurance, work obligations and patient worries about supporting his or her family.
In 2008, the average stay for hospitalized patients was 4.6 days at nearly $7,000 per day, according to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Stephen W. Hwang, MD, of the University of Toronto, found that patients with Medicaid coverage or lack of health insurance were more likely to leave hospitals AMA.
Dr. Hwang also noted a 21 percent readmission rate for patients leaving AMA within 15 days, while only 3 percent of patients leaving on advice of their doctor were readmitted within that timeframe. While no hard data currently exists on mortality rates, he speculated that patients leaving early faced a higher risk of death as well.
Leaving AMA is Dangerous and Prevents Full Patient Rights Later
Complying with doctor recommendations is a good idea for your health, but it also helps to secure your rights in the future should a medical professional cause you harm through negligence. Due to a legal doctrine known as comparative negligence, often patients who do not fully comply with their doctor's recommendations may be barred from recovering medical costs later, or can have his or her compensation for injuries severely reduced. This is true even if the doctor was negligent in his or her care and caused you severe injury.
Having full patient rights under the law is more important than ever. For example, the Agency found that 1.9 million people were given the wrong medication or dose in 2008 which caused the patient injury. That number is up 50 percent compared to 2004.
Receiving fair compensation for medical negligence can be difficult and complex. If you believe a doctor, nurse or other health care provider caused you injury through negligence, contact an experienced personal injury attorney right away.
