John C Carlson, MD, FACS

Mr. Carlson allowed an elderly patient with obvious signs of dementia direct her own care post discharge from acute care surgery. The patient was given the option to go into transitional care vs. going directly home. Of course the patient is going to chose home over TC however it is the responsibility of the professional to make an assessment of the patients competency to appropriately care for themselves. This decision has put the patient in an unhygienic situation compromising an open wound. He ignored the past history of the patient from family members and he ignored current comorbidities. Additionally he discharged the patient too early presumably to improve his own utilization data relative to inpatient days. Needless to say this physician, along with the entire staff of Regina Hospital, did not perform an appropriate assessment or staffing of this patient upon intake or prior to discharge. Unfortunately what the family had predicted actually happened within 12 hours of discharge when the patient lost control of bodily functions. Thank you Dr. (and I use the term loosely) Carlson!