Risk of Blood Clots Goes Unaddressed in Discharged Patients: New Study
Dangerous blood clots typically form within three months of a hospital stay, but fewer than 43% of discharged patients leave the hospital with orders for clot-preventing treatment or medications according to a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Based on a review of the medical records of patients in the Worcester, Massachusetts area who were diagnosed with blood clots in 1999, 2001 and 2003, researchers determined that 73.7% of all patients with clots developed them at home, and that 59.1% occurred in patients who had recently been hospitalized. Only 59.7% of those patients ever received anticoagulant therapies in the hospital, however, and fewer than 50% received orders for those therapies or medications upon their discharge.
Researchers suspect that physicians may forgo clot-preventive therapies under the assumption that a patient is less susceptible to clot formation once he is no longer confined to a hospital bed. In actuality, the researchers maintain, decreasing lengths of hospital stays may mean that patients spend more time immobilized at home, putting them at greater risk.
Previously on the D.C. Metro Area Medical Malpractice Law Blog, we have posted articles related to:
- Dangers of clot formation on long flights
- Dangers of clot formation on cars, trains and buses, too
- Dangers of clot formation due to birth control patch