Is being discharged from the hospital too soon grounds for medical malpractice?

Medical Malpractice - March 28, 2024 by Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates

When you undergo a procedure from a medical professional, you trust that you will receive a treatment that meets the basic standards of care. When the standards of care are not met and injury happens, you could have a medical malpractice claim; for instance, being discharged from the hospital too soon. The level of care you receive directly after a procedure can be just as critical as the quality of the procedure itself.  

An experienced personal injury attorney from Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates is available to review your medical malpractice case. Call us at (800) 985-1819, and keep reading to learn more about malpractice and hospital discharge.

Why would a patient be discharged too soon?

Here are some common reasons why patients find themselves being sent home from the hospital before it’s time. 

The doctor or other health professional fails to make an important note in the patient’s chart.

When you should be discharged is determined by the information your healthcare professional records and presents. Failure to note an important condition that leads to injury could make them liable for your damages.

The doctor or other health professional fails to check on the patient.

Receiving appropriate aftercare is an essential part of overall quality care. When a patient isn’t adequately assessed or examined after a procedure, injuries can develop and/or worsen, and medical malpractice may have occurred.

The patient is deliberately discharged too soon due to overcrowding.

Hospitals today are often very crowded, and sometimes the strategy chosen is to discharge patients early to make room. 

If this happens and injury results, medical malpractice may have occurred, which must be proven through a careful consideration of the evidence.

Proving medical malpractice

In a personal injury case, you can only collect damages for accidents that you can prove were caused by someone or something else. With a medical malpractice case, you’ll need to prove that the healthcare professionals who provided your care, or the institution in which it was provided, failed in their duty to you. 

To prove medical malpractice, you must prove that another party was negligent. Negligence is a complex legal term that will be applied to the unique facts and circumstances of your injury to determine the cause.

In terms of medical malpractice, the following aspects of negligence must be proven:

Duty

The medical professional must have had a duty to you, generally because you had a doctor-patient relationship. This is formed either by signing an agreement or receiving treatment from a medical professional. 

Medical professionals have a duty to provide treatment that meets the general standard of care, which is the level of quality that another practitioner in that field of medicine would generally provide for the same procedure.

Breach

The duty of the medical professional must have been broken by providing a procedure that fell below the standard of care, which can include early discharge that leads to injury.

Causation

The breach of the duty of the medical professional must have been the cause of your injury.

Damages

The injury or injuries that resulted from the early discharge must have resulted in damages that you can prove with evidence to collect compensation.

Proving malpractice with evidence

How do you prove whether or not a medical procedure met the standard of care? The answer is by collecting expert opinions from other medical experts. They will assess how your procedure was conducted, how long you were kept for aftercare before being discharged, and the medical reasons behind your injuries.

After your procedure, it’s important that you request a full report from the medical professional, as this could be valuable evidence in support of your case. 

Do not accuse your doctor or the healthcare facility of engaging in medical malpractice and causing you injury directly. This can put them on the defensive and make it more difficult to collect evidence in support of your claim later on. 

If you’ve experienced an injury or worsened condition after being discharged from the hospital too early, the best way to support your claim is by reaching out to a medical practice attorney as soon as possible.

Think you suffered complications from being discharged too soon? We can help.

If your health has worsened and additional issues have emerged after you were discharged, you may have been a victim of medical malpractice. Proving this requires evidence from your healthcare professional as well as experts to determine whether or not the standard of care was met. The claims process also requires a thorough understanding of medical malpractice law and the procedures and rules of your local courts. 

With an experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney from Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates by your side, you can focus on recovering from your injuries while we focus on recovering the full amount of compensation that you’re entitled to.

Schedule a consultation or call (800) 985-1819 to discuss options on how to receive complete coverage for all the costs and damages associated with your medical malpractice injury.