ED Legal Letter – December 1, 2012
December 1, 2012
View Issues
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Does EMTALA Really End When a Hospital Admits an ED Patient?
he courts dont always agree with or follow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services interpretation that EMTALA ends once an emergency department patient with an emergency condition is admitted to the hospital in good faith for stabilizing treatment. -
Patient Discharged; Then Abnormal Result ID’d?
As part of the workup for a young woman with abdominal pain, the emergency physician (EP) ordered radiographic studies of the patients abdomen, and general surgery and OB/GYN consults. The on-call radiologist first read the studies as unremarkable. -
Will Patient Sue Due to Abnormal Finding, or Not?
Whether a patient sues after learning an initially normal finding was re-read as abnormal has something to do with how the emergency physician (EP) approaches the situation. -
Sending ED Psych Patient Home? Protect Yourself Legally
A young man presented to an emergency department (ED) and reported hallucinations after taking over-the-counter herbal stimulants and diphenhydramine. The ED diagnosis was acute psychosis resolved. -
Lack of Follow-up Can Lead to Lawsuit
If a psychiatric patient is being sent home, the EP must determine if there is proper follow-up available for that patient, which means connecting the patient with appropriate resources, says Leslie Zun, MD, MBA, professor and chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital and Chicago (IL) Medical School.