Patient alleged transfer attempts violated EMTALA
The recent federal district court decision from Texas involving the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) concerned an inpatient who alleged that repeated attempts to transfer him from the hospital violated the statute.
Nathan A. Kottkamp, JD, a partner with the law firm of McGuireWoods in Richmond, VA, offers this summary of the Texas case that led to the EMTALA ruling: The plaintiff, an uninsured patient, presented to the defendant hospital’s emergency department (ED) and was found to be suffering from bilateral pneumonia, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and significant lung damage. The hospital admitted the plaintiff into its facility as an inpatient, and he stayed until he was discharged home nearly a month later.
The plaintiff alleges that while his condition still was unstable, various doctors and nurses at the defendant hospital attempted to transfer him out of the hospital 18 times because he was uninsured. On one specific occasion, the plaintiff went into cardiac arrest at or near the time he was placed in an ambulance for transfer. After being resuscitated, he returned to the defendant hospital’s intensive care unit and was placed on a ventilator. The plaintiff alleges that he later was discharged home improperly because his condition still was unstable.
“The hospital moved to dismiss the EMTALA claim on grounds that the plaintiff was admitted to the hospital in good faith as a bona fide inpatient. After recognizing that there is a split among circuits as to whether EMTALA applies to inpatients, the court denied the hospital’s motion to dismiss,” Kottkamp explains. In its opinion, the court held that the statute’s application “does not turn on the administrative status of the patient but on his or her medical status.”
The court rejected the defendant hospital’s attempt to throw out the EMTALA claim and said the plaintiff’s allegations could be considered by the lower court. The case has not yet been tried or settled.
The recent federal district court decision from Texas involving the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) concerned an inpatient who alleged that repeated attempts to transfer him from the hospital violated the statute.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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