A Pending Test at Discharge and a Return with Sepsis

About this episode

The episode discusses a case involving a patient who returned to the hospital in septic shock after a failure to communicate critical lab results at discharge.

A 68-year-old male was admitted to the hospital after falling on ice and feeling short of breath. Two days after discharge, the patient arrived by ambulance at another hospital in septic shock. The patient filed a claim against the hospital, alleging that the failure to communicate a critical lab result required readmission and several weeks of follow-up treatment.

Topics covered

• medical malpractice
• hospital discharge
• sepsis
• patient safety
• communication failures

Keywords

• sepsis
• hospital readmission
• lab results
• patient claim
• medical negligence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: hospital, another hospital

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