Leaving Hospital Against Medical Advice
August 25, 2009 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Exposed!, Extreme, Healthcare
Would you leave the hospital before your doctor says you are ready?
It’s not something that I’d do.
But according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, it’s becoming a common occurence as more and more people check out against medical advice.
In fact, in 2007 368,000 patients walked out on their doctor.
So why did they leave?
Turns out that the majority of those who left were uninsured or on Medicaid.
They were also more likely to be…
- Male: Men left hospital against advice at a rate of 1.5 per 1,000 population, compared with 0.9 for 1,000 women. In contrast, women were more likely to be inpatients, at a rate of 102.8 per 1,000, compared with 91.5 for men.
- Younger than other patients: The average age those who left against advice was 46 years, compared with 58 years for all other inpatients.
- Urban dwellers: Patients in those areas were nearly twice as likely to leave hospital against advice than patients living in all other areas — 1.8 per 1,000 population, compared with about 1.0.
- Poorer than other inpatients: Overall, inpatient care rates were 1.5 times greater in the poorest communities than in the wealthiest areas, but the magnitude of difference was greater among those who left against advice — 2.7 times higher among those in the poorest communities than in the wealthiest areas.
- Northeastern residents: The rate of leaving against advice was 2.0 per 1,000 population, compared with 1.0 in all other regions.
(source: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample)
The research, unfortunately, doesn’t show what happened to these early discharges – whether they ended up returning to hospital or not.
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