Under the law, the hospital can keep you against your will if you are on an inpatient treatment order. This means the service may decide to keep you there to treat you, even if you want to go home. However, you may be granted a leave of absence by the psychiatrist to temporarily leave the hospital.
Discharge at own risk
Except in certain circumstances (e.g. serious Infectious disease or those who are detained under the Mental Health Act) every patient has the right to leave hospital when he/she chooses. However, this may be a serious step when taken against the advice of your doctor and requires great caution.
Can I be kept in the hospital against my will? No. The hospital can be liable for "false imprisonment" if hospital officials attempt to prevent you from leaving. You should discuss your condition and reasons for wanting to leave with your physician before leaving.
When you leave a hospital after treatment, you go through a process called hospital discharge. A hospital will discharge you when you no longer need to receive inpatient care and can go home. Or, a hospital will discharge you to send you to another type of facility. Many hospitals have a discharge planner.
The individual can be held at a designated facility for up to 72 hours.
You have the legal right to leave. There is no law that requires you to sign discharge documents. Still, you should prepare a letter that explains why you decided to leave. Keep a copy of the letter and give a copy to the hospital administrator.
- Nothing happens. Everyone who is sane even though he is very ill is allowed to discharge himself or herself. The downside to this is that if things go wrong then you cannot blame the hospital or the doctors.
Be treated with dignity and respect. Accept or refuse treatment and only be physically examined with consent. Be given information about any test and treatment options open to you, what they involve and their risks and benefits. Have access to your own records.
Leaving AMA does not mean that you cannot return to the hospital for care. But if you leave against medical advice and need readmission to the hospital, you will need to go back to the ER before readmission. The emergency room is always available.
Owing to Supreme Court's decisions in catena of cases, hospitals cannot take recourse to such mechanisms. No hospital can cite financial reasons to refuse emergency treatment to any patient.
If you and your family agree that you're ready to go home this afternoon, for instance, have your point person tell the nurse. That way, they know to move up any tests to today, rather than scheduling them for tomorrow. “After you ask, often the answer is 'I'd be happy to let you go home,” he adds.
Unless you have a mental illness that causes hospital staff to determine you are an immediate threat to yourself or others, you have the right to refuse treatment or leave the hospital if you wish.
Bans can extend to an agency, a hospital, or a whole hospital system. They can also be permanent or temporary, which can last up to one year and are often due to failed examinations, more specifically the PBDS or the EKG. These bans are usually six months to a year.
When you leave a hospital after treatment, you go through a process called hospital discharge. A hospital will discharge you when you no longer need to receive inpatient care and can go home. Or, a hospital will discharge you to send you to another type of facility or help you coordinate home care.
Discharge against medical advice (AMA), in which a patient chooses to leave the hospital before the treating physician recommends discharge, is a problem for many physicians who treat hospitalized patients. 1,2.
There is no law or procedure that requires you to sign discharge papers. If you want to leave, you can do so. However, make a letter, explaining why you decided to leave. It is possible that the hospital will begin charging for services.
You have certain rights in the hospital. Those include rights to privacy, safety, and culturally appropriate care. In general, if you're in either type of hospital, you have a right to leave whenever you wish. Medical personnel can't keep you against your will.
When your physician decides you are ready to leave the hospital, he/she will write an order for your discharge. Discharge times generally occur between 11 am and 1 pm. Physicians may discharge earlier or later pending required information and proper medical clearance.
There are a number of legal theories, which would indicate that hospitals may not legally prevent parents from taking their babies home. The most important laws which would prevent hospitals from withholding parents from their children, are the law against kidnapping and the law against false imprisonment.
Can You Get Blacklisted From Doctors? There is only one way for a patient to be blacklisted: he or she must file a complaint against another patient. It is common practice among doctors to gossip about it among themselves, which can cause additional injuries to patients who have already been injured.
“The therapeutic privilege permits physicians to tailor (and even withhold) information when, but only when, its disclosure would so upset a patient that he or she could not rationally engage in a conversation about therapeutic options and consequences”.
“Patients who dare to question or challenge their doctor's authority, or the medical treatment that they receive, may find that they become BLACKLISTED (i.e. denied specialist care). Physicians demonstrate a stronger allegiance to their colleagues, than they do towards their innocent and trusting patients.