If you have to be admitted to a hospital, you would expect that the doctors and other workers would prioritize your wellbeing. You wouldn’t expect them to send you home before it’s safe to do so. Rather, you’d expect to be seen promptly and discharged only after you’ve been thoroughly evaluated, diagnosed, and treated if necessary.
Unfortunately, some people don’t get an ideal experience after they are admitted to hospital. Some are rushed out the doors by medical providers before they are truly ready to leave the doctors’ care. There are several reasons why this may occur. Sometimes, doctors think the individual is stable enough to be discharged when they actually are not. Other times, individuals who don’t seem very ill are discharged because another patient needs the bed, or the hospital is short-staffed.
Another possibility is that the physician decides to send the person home solely based on their health insurance. They may discharge them as soon as their insurance runs out, despite the risks associated with premature discharge. If you experienced complications because you were discharged much too soon, you need to contact an Atlanta medical malpractice attorney. They will investigate the circumstances surrounding your injury and help you to determine whether you have a case against the hospital.
Risks Associated with Premature Discharge
Regardless of why a patient is released early, the consequences can be serious. They may acquire an infection, get misdiagnosed, or miss out on vital treatment. Some patients suffer serious health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, or blood clots, especially after discharge from the emergency room.
Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim
It’s important to note that you must have suffered some type of harm as a result of the early discharge. Patients are often discharged while they still feel weak or confused but with appropriate at-home care, they don’t suffer any negative consequences. If you were sent home while you still felt unwell, but you began to feel better in a couple day, you can’t sue the hospital for malpractice.
Similarly, not every unsatisfactory or unexpected outcome is due to negligence. If your condition got worse after you left the hospital, you would want to blame someone. However, you would have to present evidence to support your claim that the hospital was at fault. If you were indeed harmed because of a hospital’s negligence, you would be entitled to compensation for the related losses.
To prove that the hospital was negligent, you need to show that the workers there failed to provide the standard of care that another medical provider would in the same circumstances. This means that a competent physician or hospital would have treated you differently if you presented with the same symptoms.
In almost every medical malpractice claim, you’ll have to present testimony from an expert witness. This is usually a neutral medical professional in the same field who gives their opinion on how the treating physician breached the acceptable standard of care. This person can also explain how and why premature discharge could have led to your injuries. This witness often plays a major role in the case, so you need to hire an attorney who has access to knowledgeable, respected experts.
Compensation You Can Claim
If the hospital was negligent, you can recover compensation for a variety of losses. The exact amount will be based on the specifics of your case and how your injury will impact your quality of life. Typically, patients can claim compensation for medical expenses, lost income, rehab costs, pain and suffering, and other related losses.
In Georgia, you usually have two years from the date of the negligent act to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, an exception may be made if you didn’t know that you were harmed until sometime later. You may have up to five years from the date the incident occurred. Your attorney will explain the deadlines that apply to your case.
Discuss Your Situation with An Attorney at Calvin Smith Law
If you were discharged from a hospital too soon and your condition worsened as a result, you should reach out to a skilled Atlanta medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. At Calvin Smith Law, we will investigate the circumstances surrounding your release and give you a professional assessment of your claim. If you have a strong case and you choose to hire us, we’ll do everything we can to get you the compensation you deserve. Call us today to schedule a free consultation and get more information about how we can help you.
