Muriel Vasconcellos (X) Feb 22, 2013:

Another thought Sometimes 'discharge' is used for a patient still in outpatient care. If new symptoms arise, the discharge may be reversed.

Georgia Morg (X) Feb 22, 2013:

Good thinking, Muriel. Without context impossible to say....

Muriel Vasconcellos (X) Feb 21, 2013:

Does it mean... that the patient is readmitted, or simply that the physician changed his decision about the discharge? There could be a subtle difference here if the patient is not readmitted. I have to confess that I have walked out of a hospital more than once without a discharge. Nothing happened. They don't come and get me and take me back. But the record showed that I wasn't discharged.