Many emergency room patients facing long waits at crowded California hospitals are leaving before their care is complete, according to a California Healthline report.
Data from the state's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development shows that in 2017, 352,000 California ER visits ended with patients leaving after seeing a physician but before completing their care, an increase of 57 percent since 2012.
Additionally, 322,000 patients left the ER without seeing a physician at all in 2017. The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development classifies leaving after seeing a physician but before being cleared to leave as "leaving against medical advice or discontinued care."
Overcrowding appears to be the cause, with trips to ERs in the state increasing by 2.4 million from 2012 to 2017. Wait times have also increased. The median ER wait time before admission in 2017 was a little over five and a half hours, up by 15 minutes from 2012, according to CMS data.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development data shows that those leaving against medical advice were more likely to be:
• Men
• Between the ages of 20 and 39
• Uninsured or on Medi-Cal
Emergency medicine physicians told California Healthline that they sometimes have to have difficult conversations with sick patients who want to leave, as they are putting themselves at risk for getting sicker or even dying.
More articles on patient flow:
6 hospitals ending maternity services
Illinois hospital to end inpatient labor, delivery services May 31
Vermont hospital closes 105-year-old birthing unit