Leaving Against Medical Advice

She was never even supposed to be in the hospital. We got a telephone call from an ophthalmologist who suspected a stroke in a woman in her early 70s after finding a visual field defect. She had gone to the clinic because she was bumping into objects for a few days, but she expected to do a few tests, get a diagnosis, and go home, because whatever was wrong did not even bother her much. Instead, she was treated to an admission to our stroke center and a nothing by mouth designation overnight after she failed the nurse ’s swallowing screening. The ambient music of the ward—the echoes, beeps, snoring, and nurses and physicians shuffling about—meant she did not get much sleep that night.
Source: JAMA Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research