[3] The available data suggests that in general, patients discharged AMA have an increased risk of hospital readmission, and potentially death.
[5] Rather, the legal and ethical requirement is that the authorized health care professional has an informed consent discussion with the patient regarding their choice to leave the hospital before it has been recommended.
[6] Authors across numerous disciplines have begun to question the wisdom of the practice of designating a discharge as AMA, as it doesn't follow professional standards, lacks evidence of its utility to improve patient care, and may harm patients by reducing their likelihood of following up.
[10] The limited research in this area has led to a stagnation in effective interventions designed to alleviate AMA discharges.
The majority of studies have identified patient risk factors for AMA discharges that included low socioeconomic status, history of a substance use disorder, and male sex.