Leaving hospital against medical advice more likely to lead to readmission within a month

Some people who are admitted to hospital leave before doctors recommend their discharge, and a new study finds that these patients are at a much higher risk of being readmitted to hospital within a month. The study looked at nearly 20 million hospital admissions in 2014, around 300,000 of which resulted in people leaving against medical advice. That patient group was almost twice as likely to be readmitted to hospital within 30 days of leaving, and was also more likely to be admitted to a different hospital. Nearly 1 in 5 of the readmissions among those who left against doctors' advice happened within a day of leaving hospital, compared to 6% among those who were discharged per doctors' orders. At the same time, those who left of their own accord were 20% less likely to die in hospital.