WHOʼS RESPONSIBLE FOR TOO-EARLY DISCHARGE?

Abstract

to verify whether admissions, procedures, or extended hospital stays are warranted. But basic tenets of care and treatment musn't suffer as a result. In 1986, a California appeals court was asked to review a trial court decision in favor of a woman whose leg had to be amputated after an early discharge from the hospital.' Mrs. Wickline, a woman in her mid-40s under a physician's care, was admitted to a California community hospital with arteriosclerosis obliterans and occlusion of the abdominal aorta (Leriche's syndrome). Because of the advanced stage of the patient's arteriosclerosis, surgery to insert a Teflon graft in the artery was needed. The state, as third-party payer through its Medi-Cal public assistance program, authorized the surgery and 10 days of hospitalization for the treatment.