Are you fined for leaving hospital against medical advice?

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by Opway

It's okay, I'm counting on a big bill. And I only stayed for like 6 hours, can't imagine if I had stayed for a day.

Be sure you request a copy of your medical chart. That way you can compare the doctors orders to the bill. They have a strange way of overcharging people for medications/treatments they did not receive *or* that were not in the doctor's chart notes.

You have a right to your chart. Don't let them tell you otherwise.

20yrsinBranson

[SmartMoney]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Be prepared to pay for a full day. What ended up being the problem? Did you get a diagnosis? And how did you end up in the hospital? Were you brought by ambulance?

Actually, here it is just the opposite......anything under 24 hours is not treated as an overnight stay. I was taken to the ER with chest pains, put on the cardiac ward and observed with an echo, ekg and a stress test and was out of there on hour 22. All so I wouldn't be a full day admission and the bill did read ER for the entire stay......and this was not some backwoods hospital, but a well known No. VA hospital for cardiac care.

There is no way 6 hours would be a 24 hour charge.

[ToucheGA]

Often times when a patient receives services at a hospital for less that 24 hours, they are not really admitted to the hospital as an "inpatient." Instead, they are placed in a special status know as "Observation." Even if a patient is placed in a bed overnight, the hospital cannot admit the patient to the hospital unless certain treatments are provided.

Individuals who have chest pain are very often placed in Observation if they are not really having a heart attack, since no treatment is given in these cases. The multitude of tests that these patients get (EKG, blood tests, stress tests, etc.) are not considered to be treatment, since they are not aimed at improving one's condition. On the other hand, if someone is admitted for Pneumonia and needs IV antibiotics over a few days, then the patient is typically admitted, given the need for treatment.

Medicare publishes a good summary of inpatient vs. observation. This documents technically applies only to Medicare recipients, but most other insurance companies consider inpatient vs. observation in the same manner.