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Good luck! But I would start calling friends to see if someone can pick you up. My hospital explicitly said they would not discharge me to Uber, too

vivegi 4y ago
Wow! I remember an exploratory conversation I had with the CEO of a large health insurance company's individual plan subsidiary and this was several years ago, a time when ridesharing was gaining traction. They were talking about partnering with rideshare companies for alternative patient transport (for non-emergencies). I guess that never took off.
shagie 4y ago
Uber's attempt at Uber Health - https://www.uber.com/en-US/blog/hospital-uses/ https://www.uber.com/en-US/blog/hospital-uses/ American Medical Resource Institute guidance on discharges - https://www.aclsonline.us/blog/what-to-do-when-theres-no-one-to-drive-your-patient-home-1/ https://www.aclsonline.us/blog/what-to-do-when-theres-no-one... > You did your part and got your patient through surgery with flying colors. But, uh-oh, the ride your patient was expecting to get home is a no-show. What should your ASC do? > Well, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, your ASC has a legal obligation to only discharge patients to a responsible adult when they have been under the influence of sedation. > Unfortunately, now that Uber and Lyft are such convenient options for transportation, many patients think they can simply hop in a rideshare vehicle and that’s the same thing as being discharged to a caring family member or friend. > However, the law in many states is still unclear on whether a rideshare driver counts as a “responsible adult” who is actually taking responsibility for the patient’s care just by stepping into the vehicle. In fact, in a recent Outpatient Surgery Magazine poll, 69 percent of surgical facilities said they never discharge an unaccompanied patient to take an Uber, Lyft or taxi home.
- Aerroon 4y ago
  Are you saying that you legally can't leave a hospital until somebody else promises to take care of you? That sounds a little unsettling. What do they do if somebody just walks out?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - shagie 4y ago
    If you have been sedated, many states have a law that say that you can only be discharged to the care of a responsible adult. This has been an issue for me in the past when I was sedated for a root canal. I had my brother's girlfriend's father pick me up from the dentist. As to walking out? I was in absolutely no shape to walk out. If someone is still insistent on leaving: > If you discover that your patient doesn’t have a responsible adult to take them home until after the procedure is complete and they’re dressed and insisting to go home on their own, your best option is to document as much as possible. Insist that the patient sign an AMA (against medical advice) form. Then write up the details of the patient’s non-compliance in an incident report in their medical record. Also, let their surgeon know.
  - BoorishBears 4y ago
    I think you're taking an uncharitable view of things. The effect of the above is: "They're not allowed to forcibly eject you if doing so would make you unsafe" For example, I was allowed to stay an extra night because I live alone and needed to coordinate a helper to safely go up my stairs. There's a very specific set of reasons why they can hold you defined separately from this. tl;dr if they do eject you into an unsafe envious they face liability, but not so much liability that they need to imprison you...
    - iudqnolq 4y ago
      No, the effect is also that policy can be to put you're "non-compliant" in your medical record (see your sibling). If those words don't terrify you then this probably isn't an issue for you, but for some that can be a literal death sentence.
      - shagie 4y ago
        I would urge you to read https://www.aana.com/docs/default-source/practice-aana-com-web-documents-(all)/professional-practice-manual/discharge-after-sedation-or-anesthesia-on-the-day-of-the-procedure.pdf https://www.aana.com/docs/default-source/practice-aana-com-w... The title is "Discharge After Sedation or Anesthesia on the Day of the Procedure: Patient Transportation With or Without a Responsible Adult" from the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology The checklist starts out with: > Review and comply with federal, state, and local law and regulations as well as facility accreditation requirements > Engage the facility’s legal counsel, risk manager and/or similar role to review and address liability and legal concerns. There are significant liability risks for a hospital to discharge a person who has been sedated to anyone other than an adult who has the obligation to give care to the person if needed. This includes things like discharging a person who has been sedated to a ride share who then robs them (you are free to imagine worse situations). As this has happened with intoxicated people being driven home from a bar, hospitals are rightly concerned that if they discharge someone to a ride share, they may be incurring significant liability of their own. Going back to my sedation dentistry experiences, the person who is going to take me home has to be there with me at the start while I am not yet sedated and there were a number of forms that I filled out when I became a patient of theirs identifying the people who could drive me. The laws around the requirements and liability for a medical facility to discharge person who has been sedated do not give much wiggle room for the hospital to get out of that liability.
BoorishBears 4y ago
I ended up using an app that wraps traditional taxi services in SF, they had a Ramp Taxi 5 minutes away and got me home

vivegi 4y ago

Wow! I remember an exploratory conversation I had with the CEO of a large health insurance company's individual plan subsidiary and this was several years ago, a time when ridesharing was gaining traction. They were talking about partnering with rideshare companies for alternative patient transport (for non-emergencies). I guess that never took off.

shagie 4y ago

Uber's attempt at Uber Health - https://www.uber.com/en-US/blog/hospital-uses/ https://www.uber.com/en-US/blog/hospital-uses/ American Medical Resource Institute guidance on discharges - https://www.aclsonline.us/blog/what-to-do-when-theres-no-one-to-drive-your-patient-home-1/ https://www.aclsonline.us/blog/what-to-do-when-theres-no-one... > You did your part and got your patient through surgery with flying colors. But, uh-oh, the ride your patient was expecting to get home is a no-show. What should your ASC do? > Well, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, your ASC has a legal obligation to only discharge patients to a responsible adult when they have been under the influence of sedation. > Unfortunately, now that Uber and Lyft are such convenient options for transportation, many patients think they can simply hop in a rideshare vehicle and that’s the same thing as being discharged to a caring family member or friend. > However, the law in many states is still unclear on whether a rideshare driver counts as a “responsible adult” who is actually taking responsibility for the patient’s care just by stepping into the vehicle. In fact, in a recent Outpatient Surgery Magazine poll, 69 percent of surgical facilities said they never discharge an unaccompanied patient to take an Uber, Lyft or taxi home.

Aerroon 4y ago
Are you saying that you legally can't leave a hospital until somebody else promises to take care of you? That sounds a little unsettling. What do they do if somebody just walks out?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- shagie 4y ago
  If you have been sedated, many states have a law that say that you can only be discharged to the care of a responsible adult. This has been an issue for me in the past when I was sedated for a root canal. I had my brother's girlfriend's father pick me up from the dentist. As to walking out? I was in absolutely no shape to walk out. If someone is still insistent on leaving: > If you discover that your patient doesn’t have a responsible adult to take them home until after the procedure is complete and they’re dressed and insisting to go home on their own, your best option is to document as much as possible. Insist that the patient sign an AMA (against medical advice) form. Then write up the details of the patient’s non-compliance in an incident report in their medical record. Also, let their surgeon know.
- BoorishBears 4y ago
  I think you're taking an uncharitable view of things. The effect of the above is: "They're not allowed to forcibly eject you if doing so would make you unsafe" For example, I was allowed to stay an extra night because I live alone and needed to coordinate a helper to safely go up my stairs. There's a very specific set of reasons why they can hold you defined separately from this. tl;dr if they do eject you into an unsafe envious they face liability, but not so much liability that they need to imprison you...
  - iudqnolq 4y ago
    No, the effect is also that policy can be to put you're "non-compliant" in your medical record (see your sibling). If those words don't terrify you then this probably isn't an issue for you, but for some that can be a literal death sentence.
    - shagie 4y ago
      I would urge you to read https://www.aana.com/docs/default-source/practice-aana-com-web-documents-(all)/professional-practice-manual/discharge-after-sedation-or-anesthesia-on-the-day-of-the-procedure.pdf https://www.aana.com/docs/default-source/practice-aana-com-w... The title is "Discharge After Sedation or Anesthesia on the Day of the Procedure: Patient Transportation With or Without a Responsible Adult" from the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology The checklist starts out with: > Review and comply with federal, state, and local law and regulations as well as facility accreditation requirements > Engage the facility’s legal counsel, risk manager and/or similar role to review and address liability and legal concerns. There are significant liability risks for a hospital to discharge a person who has been sedated to anyone other than an adult who has the obligation to give care to the person if needed. This includes things like discharging a person who has been sedated to a ride share who then robs them (you are free to imagine worse situations). As this has happened with intoxicated people being driven home from a bar, hospitals are rightly concerned that if they discharge someone to a ride share, they may be incurring significant liability of their own. Going back to my sedation dentistry experiences, the person who is going to take me home has to be there with me at the start while I am not yet sedated and there were a number of forms that I filled out when I became a patient of theirs identifying the people who could drive me. The laws around the requirements and liability for a medical facility to discharge person who has been sedated do not give much wiggle room for the hospital to get out of that liability.

BoorishBears 4y ago

I ended up using an app that wraps traditional taxi services in SF, they had a Ramp Taxi 5 minutes away and got me home