“safely discharged”?

~ Jason Schwartz

hand drowningFrom a press release about newly published research. The title of the press release is Fentanyl overdose survivors require little if any hospital treatment

“Our protocol should give emergency physicians and nurses the confidence to allocate the appropriate resources to the patients who truly need them, especially when there is a wave of fentanyl overdoses that threaten to overwhelm the hospital,” Scheuermeyer said. “If the patients meet our definition of low-risk, physicians and nurses should also feel comfortable letting patients leave if they want to.”

Number of times the following words appear:

  • referral = 0
  • continuing care = 0
  • linkage = 0
  • treatment = 2 (the context is as follows)
    • “don’t need prolonged hospital treatment”
    • ” leading to unnecessary treatment that strains hospital resources”

The only reference to trying to address the disorder that nearly killed the patient is this:

Patients also received visits from a social worker who asked them about their need for housing and detoxification programs.

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.

2 thoughts on ““safely discharged”?”

  2. The sad truth is that the stigma is still strong , medical people are still uneducated, and letting addicts leave is letting them die. Sounds like letting people die has become a solution to the problem that their overdosing is causing the hospitals.

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