We recently supported a patient who was hospitalized with several non-COVID issues. The patient had no immediate family in the area and no healthcare power of attorney. His fiancé was his local contact, but without a POA, she could not get any information on his condition. Dissatisfied with his care and exasperated by the complete lack of communication by hospital staff, she wanted to get him discharged and transferred to an assisted living facility.
The hospital resisted, claiming he was not capable of making his own decisions at that point. The fiancé worked for two weeks to obtain this information and then contacted us for assistance. We were retained to determine what was happening with the patient and were also stonewalled when we tried to obtain his records. After another 10 days, during which we collaborated with social work, compliance and safety, and finally hospital legal counsel, we were ultimately able to get his records released to us and get him safely and appropriately discharged into an assisted living facility.
Two things to note: We did this 100 percent remotely, and we brought an appropriate resident to the assisted living facility that was not already on its radar.