So when I was finally discharged from the hospital hospital and into an injury rehab hospital, it took them two and a half business days to release all my notes and records from my stay there, and then even longer to release the images from all the X-Rays and CT scans they gave me over the course of my stay. Being a naturally curious person, especially about my own health, I read them all, and that was when I discovered that I had been given an appendectomy along with two other significant medical events that were noted while I was unconscious, which I won't share for privacy reasons.
Yes, you read that right, nobody told me or my parents (who as my legal next-of-kin were heavily involved and of course had to sign a bunch of consent stuff while I was unconscious) that they had straight up taken out my appendix during one of their surgeries, or other significant medical events that occured.
Now, I am very privileged in that I am not only literate, but I am medically literate. I work in healthcare and both my parents have achieved doctoral levels of higher education, as well as having multiple medical doctors in my extended family who I can call on if I have any questions. Since my stay was so long, I have a lot of notes, which are very dense and riddled with typos and abbreviations. But I am lucky in that I know how to read them and have resources in place to help me if I don't. But so many people don't, and it infuriates me.
So many people out there don't even know their own medical history because so many doctors and nurses do not communicate things to their patients properly. And that is dangerous! It's important to know your medical history so that you know your risk factors, especially in case another emergency occurs. I understand that healthcare workers by and large are overworked and understaffed but I think it should be a bare minimum that a patient is properly briefed about what procedures were done to them and what diagnoses they have before they are discharged.
Just like someone should provide informed consent to be admitted for hospitalization, they should be able to provide an informed consent to be discharged.