Hospital Discharges Patient After 10 Days Because Medicaid Doesn’t Cover Longer, He Dies The Next Night

California, U.S. My girlfriend’s dad has diabetes and kidney problems, was admitted to the hospital after becoming stiff one night. They treated him for 10 days, he wasn’t fully stabilizing but seemed a bit better and wasn’t getting worse.

On day 10, they tell her brother (dad’s son) that he had to be brought home because Medicaid only covers 10 days. He wasn’t able to bring him home yet because the people delivering oxygen tanks to the home did not drop off the dolly, or whatever it is. So he says he can come back tomorrow, they agree.

They call him later in the night, close to midnight, saying he has to come pick up his dad that night. He does, the dad can’t walk, can’t really speak, can’t breathe on his own, was vomiting at home. He died the next night, hours before my girlfriend made it home.

There were also things on the discharge papers that were never even mentioned verbally. I heard my girlfriend ask hospital staff if he had pneumonia the day before, they said no. Pneumonia was listed on the discharge papers.

Everything I see on this says it’s illegal. I don’t see any way where this is legal, please tell me if I’m missing something. What’s the best next steps? I don’t know if we can afford a lawyer, I have no idea how that process even works. Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: maybe it’s not as cut and dry as it appeared to be, I just don’t get how they could send someone home to die without even making it clear that’s what was happening. But I know my next steps thanks especially to someone who reached out directly, I will gather documents and talk to a lawyer