Hospital demanded 87-year-old record urine output for three days before treatment

An 87-year-old man with a weeks-long urinary tract infection was told by Regionshospitalet Hjørring to track his fluid intake and urine output in millilitres for three days before they would examine him, DR reports.

Bent Thøgersen had endured severe pain and hourly bathroom visits for three weeks despite two courses of antibiotics. His GP referred him for hospital assessment, but the referral was rejected.

His daughter, Charlotte Bagge, a Moderates MP and member of the preparatory regional council in Eastern Denmark, said the demand was impossible for her father. “He simply doesn’t have the capacity to measure millilitres every hour when he’s on the toilet. He’s too sick,” she told DR.

Morten Svenning Nielsen of the Practising Doctors’ Organisation called the requirement medically irrelevant. “As a doctor, I see no reason for a fluid-voiding chart in this context,” he said. He noted a rising trend in hospital rejections of GP referrals, with 15% now refused compared to 3% in 2018.

Regional councillor Per Larsen (Conservative) in North Jutland said patients are caught in the middle when hospitals override GP decisions. “When a GP deems an examination necessary, one should be carried out. The elderly must not be left stranded,” he said.

Steffen Kristensen, medical director at Regionshospital Nordjylland, cited patient confidentiality but said an evaluation found 94% of rejected urology referrals were justified. The hospital returns incomplete referrals to GPs for additional information.