That's not the way it is here.
You and German680 don't understand. In the US the only doctors that work for the hospitals are newly graduated doctors doing their internship. The other doctors have their own outside practice and have a "relationship" with one or more hospitals. This doctor was the patient's personal doctor. She decided to send him to the hospital. Then once he was admitted she promptly forgot about him for three days. So the Chief Medical Officer has no jurisdiction over this private physician.
And the reason some doctors have extraordinarily heavy workloads is their own decision to double and triple book patient appointments. I showed up at 9:15 AM for a 9:30 appointment at an orthopedist. I finished my paperwork and was ready at 9:30. Then I found out that this doctor had scheduled three people for 9:15, three more for 9:30, and three more for 9:45, etc. Since my PCP had referred me to him, I waited until 10:45, then I had to leave because I had another appointment. That practice lost my business and I went another where an appointment was considered an appointment. However, I could do this only because my insurance company did not require referrals for me to see a specialist. If I had one of my previous companies I would still be waiting.
The reason that now only the admitting doctor can authorize dischage is because until recently hospitals would discharge patients whether the patient was better or not, because the insurance companies would only authorize a stay of x days for each specific reason. (My mom had back surgery and was discharged the next day without seeing the surgeon again because Kaiser only allowed one day for that type of surgery.)
However, it seems to me that the extra days costs should be reported as Medicare or insurance fraud by the doctor, the hospital or both.
