Nobody enjoys hospital, particularly at the moment with the NHS being stretched to breaking point thanks to COVID. However, sometimes it’s the best place for us and the only place we’re going to get the care and attention we need.
Of course, in a perfect world, there would be a natural cycle to hospital stays. You are treated, you get better and you are discharged. But what if you are discharged before you’re ready to leave and what if you feel as if you still need treatment, are unable to return to work or require another opinion? If this is the case then you might have been a victim of medical negligence.
Why might you have been discharged early?
Medicine is rarely an exact science and doctors can and will make mistakes of judgement. This is especially true as we’re currently living through a pandemic and hospital beds have never been in greater demand. So you might have been discharged simply due to either a clerical or diagnostic error.
On the other hand, the doctors might have deemed that you are at minimal risk compared to other patients so might have discharged you to free up a bed for someone they deem to be at greater risk. Either way, if you think you might have been discharged from the hospital too early, read on.
What can you do if you’ve been discharged too early?
- Talk to the health professional in charge of your discharge. They might not be aware that you’re feeling as if a mistake has been made. If you present new symptoms or feel as if your initial symptoms haven’t gone away, they might see you immediately.
- Request to see your discharge rights from the hospital. These should be readily available to you by law and will be incredibly helpful if you should decide to go ahead with legal proceedings.
- See a different doctor and get a second opinion. Just because you feel unwell doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in harm’s way. A second medical opinion will either ease your suspicions or reinforce the fact that you shouldn’t have been discharged in the first place.
- Get all the paper evidence you can. Every test and treatment that they’ve conducted on you should have a paper trail and if it doesn’t have a paper trail then it will certainly have a digital trail. This is going to prove invaluable in making your medical negligence case.
- Get your doctor’s contact details. Having a direct line to them is always going to be a benefit.
Get professional help. Making a medical negligence claim is not a straightforward affair and will require the expertise of a dedicated solicitation team that understands the specifics of medical law.
Originally posted 2021-06-09 17:50:19.
