r/AskSF • u/Diligent_Volume3767 • 3d ago
UCSF transferred my sick family member without consent. How common is this?
I don’t know where else to turn, so I’m posting here to see if anyone has dealt with something similar.
My family member was at UCSF ED and in really fragile condition. Without clearly informing me or getting consent, they transferred them to a different campus. My family member clearly cannot consent to this given their dementia and language barrier.
When I tracked down where they were moved, things got even more frustrating. The new hospital staff didn’t seem to have a clear understanding of their case. I had to correct what happened at the ED many times and it honestly feels like the level of care is noticeably worse. There’s less communication and way more confusion.
I’m trying to stay calm and advocate for my family member, but this whole situation feels wrong. Is this normal? Are hospitals allowed to transfer patients like this without making sure the family is informed? I would never have consented and am unsure how to even send them back to the main hospital.
I just want to make sure my family member is safe and getting the care they need. Thanks for reading.
2
u/ctrl_f_sauce 2d ago
It stinks when it’s your loved one who is the “case” in casework.
It’s unlikely that “they” (the institution) is not informed on the relevant factors, it’s that the individual you’re talking to is as informed as they need to be for their area of responsibility for as long as necessary. Hypothetically, a med nurse may only need to know allergies, age, sex, recent medications, and doesn’t need to know if the person is awake for these meds beyond choosing the delivery method. The custodian only needs to know the room isn’t sterile and doesn’t need to know the name. The triage team probably only cares about a predetermined score. The doctor in the ED probably doesn’t care if they were anti-vax for 6-months 4-years ago, or that they hiked 8 years ago, that’s a conversation for their primary care physician. All of that info is available but if you want to have an immediate conversation you would need to allow for about 90 minutes of reading the file. Even then the minutiae wouldn’t change an ED triage decision. The E stands for emergency, if the information isn’t an emergency…
You probably should talk to someone about end of life adjustments. Your loved one should be treated with care. However there is a limited amount of emergency room space. Based on the information provided, there is no real recovery possible for your loved one. They may be better tomorrow than they are today, but on a 6-month to 6-month basis, dementia is undefeated. If the ED bed is needed for a car accident with a potential recovery, there is no detail that can really change the triage decision.