A Georgia hospital, doctor, and ambulance company have been sued for allegedly sending a family member more than 300 miles to a nursing home following discharge from the hospital.
According to reports published by the Augusta Chronicle, the patient was admitted to a hospital from a nearby nursing home with a condition of sepsis and pneumonia. After treatment for several days, the hospital discharged with patient. The suit alleges that instead of returning the patient to the local nursing home, the patient was sent by ambulance to a nursing home approximately 300 miles away. Upon arrival, the destination nursing home refused to admit the patient, according to Chronicle reports.
Ultimately, the patient was returned to another hospital in Augusta (apparently another 300 mile ambulance trip) where he died several weeks later in February 2015. The patient’s sister has filed suit against the hospital, doctor, and ambulance company for negligence, wrongful death, and causing emotional distress, according to the Chronicle.
Boy, I would like to know why they did this. Was he persona non grata at the local homes? And how did the new facility turn him down if they previously accepted….and on and on…something seems amiss. Without doubt there are times when a hospital would LIKE to send someone 300 miles away with hopes they wouldn’t come back….but this does seem a bit extreme..
I will keep my eye out for a verdict or opinion that might add more information because I don’t even have a theory right now. Agreed… seems a bit extreme, which may mean that the details will be quashed with a confidential settlement.
In my mind and to my eyes, justified law suits, and no compassion for the family and the patient himself. I hate to assume anything, but I wonder if the original close by sending nursing home instigated this transfer 300 mils away. If so, they should be included in the lawsuit as well.
They should pay through the nose if all the information given is correct…..
might not even be as complex as all that! perhaps the ambulance came in to pick up ‘Room 222’ to take them to the 300 mile removed nursing home; no one ever checked armband or records, just loaded pt up and took envelope of transfer records; got to facility who would look at papers for orders, only to find it was NOT the pt they had verbally accepted hours before….. just a thought! gotta run to deliver meals to the gallbladder in 100, pre-op in 110, gastroenteritis in 120, etc, etc, you get the picture…..
Not enough information to make any opinion. And anyone who thinks he has is not an emergency room physician.
So, the error that occured was that the hospital told the ambulance service the wrong nursing home. This caused the ambulance service to take the patient to the nursing home 300 miles away, rather than one with a simlar name 3-5 miles away. The nursing home in the other town didn’t admit him because he didn’t belong there. The allegation is that the ambulance service did not act appropriately to verify the destination, or return him promptly once the receiving nursing home refused him.