Hi all, I am freaking out right now. I have a pretty rare disease that requires frequent hospital stays. The thing is, once my symptoms are managed there isn't really anything else that can be done for me, there is no cure for my disease and once the episode is over, it is just over until the next one which could be days, weeks, months, or years away.
I went to the ER on Wednesday and was admitted, by Thursday morning my symptoms were managed and I felt better. Most of the doctors at the hospital know me, my case, and my diagnosis. By 3pm I asked to be discharged because my mother who I am currently caring for is immobile at the moment and my husband had to go out of town for work and so she would be totally alone. We had no one that could care for her on such short notice. My nurse said that hospitalist that was on duty for the day shift said no and that he wanted to monitor me for another day. Mind you he never even came to see me at all that day like the doctors usually do. He never even set eyes on me. I asked that I please speak to him and that it is urgent that I go home. She candidly told me that this particular doctor was kind of a jerk and doesn't usually respond. I asked her to keep trying to get ahold of him. I waited from 3pm until shift change at 7pm.
When the night nurse came on, I explained the situation to her and she was very sympathetic and got to work contacting the doctors who had been working on my case at the hospital. She contacted my GI from the hospital as well as the GI that was on call that night for him. They both said I could be discharged and she told me I could go. By the time my ride came to get me, she came with the bad news that while they both said I could be discharged, the hospitalist on duty that night said she didn't know my case and couldn't discharge me and that the GI on call couldn't sign the discharge paperwork. It had to be the doctor that was on call during the day. But he obviously wasn't on call anymore. My only option to get home to my mother was to leave against medical advice. They had me sign the AMA paperwork and I left. One of the nurses warned me that insurance might decline to pay for my whole hospital stay.
Can someone who has been through this shed some light on this situation and what I can do? The doctors who ACTUALLY treated me and saw me cleared me for discharge, will insurance deny my claim?
For informational purposes: I am located in California and have Blue Shield of California PPO
Submitted May 01, 2021 at 02:22AM by Jaded-Rowing https://ift.tt/2Rc0Huo
