The ER Sent Them Home: What an Emergency Department Evaluation Does – and Does Not – Rule Out
DISCHARGE IS A DISPOSITION, NOT A DECLARATION OF “NO INJURY” A patient is involved in a collision, evaluated in an emergency department, undergoes testing, and goes home several hours later. No admission. No surgery. No catastrophic imaging finding. Later, the discharge itself may be offered as shorthand for a medical conclusion: “If the patient were […]