OntheWilderSide

New York State has an important law called Patients’ rights. One important section is about a patient’s right to participate in their discharge planning and to receive discharge papers. This right is critical to uphold, so that a patient can dispute being “evicted” from a hospital or emergency room if the patient or their advocate does not feel like they can or should leave.

I ran up against a huge problem trying to assert the right of a loved one I was advocating for to receive discharge papers when he was treated at Huntington Hospital/Northwell Health Emergency Room. I hope you might sign the petition to address the problems I experienced and to fix hospital discharge practices in New York: http://change.org/hospitaldischarge

My loved one has dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury/TBI. He could not sign any of the hospital papers for himself, nor give clear information about his needs. Then, when I tried to advocate for him, I was denied the right to speak to a doctor at all. And, I was stubbornly denied any discharge papers.

The situation was very upsetting for me. Though, it awakened me to the realization that the way I was treated is probably the way other people are treated.

I realized that if unhoused people, people with mental illness, people in long term care, and/or other vulnerable populations are treated the way I was, and bullied by hospital staff like I was, then those patients might never be able to hold onto their rights or stay at the hospital until they were well or stable or ready for discharge.

I hope you might sign and share the petition I made up on the topic of improving hospital discharge practices. I truly believe these healthcare reforms could fix a lot of societal problems. The petition is at change.org: http://change.org/hospitaldischarge

After the petition language, there is background, including the dramatic story of my terrible experience at Huntington Hospital, and also some info and links on the topic of hospital discharge and patients’ rights in New York State.

The problems that my loved one and myself encountered included a variety of problems with the larger healthcare system. One of the reasons that I did not want him to be discharged was because it is so difficult to find healthcare workers, CNA’s, and aids to assist people in need. And, it is even harder to expect home health workers or nursing home workers to be available on demand on holiday weekends.

I have some hope for the future of healthcare in New York State, especially for two reasons:

1. The Patients’ rights law would be very good and useful if it were only enforced in a more productive way. (Currently, there is really only one place to complain about violations of these rights. Basicially, you cannot sue, you can only report things to the NY State Health Department. And, the outcomes from that department are not causing hospitals to worry a lot about compliance.)

But, again, in theory the Patients’ rights law is wonderful.

2. The same week when I was creating my petition and thinking about how to help my loved one in the future, New York Governor Kathy Hochul made a big push to improve healthcare by giving $646 million to programs to “recruit and train thousands of new health, mental health, and social care workers across New York.” More info at the Governor’s office: here.

So, I envision that the next time I need to know my loved one will be safe upon discharge, I could look forward to more healthcare workers to keep him safe where ever he winds up.

Though, I also realize, that my loved one — and all vulnerable people across the state — would be better supported if New York officials could create a better system to force hospitals and healthcare systems to comply with New York State Patients’ rights law.

If you have had a problematic experience with hospital or emergency room discharge, or if you have any  ideas of how to improve enforcement of the NY Patients’ rights, please leave a comment on this post. Additionally, you may contact me at kimberlywilder06 AT yahoo DOT com.

Post by Kimberly Wilder

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, governor, health, health care, Healthcare, kimberly wilder, local, long island, new york, New York State Politics, News, personal, politics, progressive politics, public health, reform, social & economic justice Tagged: | Governor Hochul, Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Hospital Discharge, Huntington Hospital, Kathy Hochul, kimberly wilder, New York politics, Northwell Health, NY hospitals, NY Patients' rights, Patients Rights