ED Legal Letter – October 1, 2012
October 1, 2012
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Does a Phone Call from a Clinic or Physician’s Office Signify the Patient Has "Come to the ED" for the Purpose of Triggering EMTALA Obligations?: AHC Media
Kansas court rules that a patient had not come to the emergency department by virtue of a clinic physician calling and asking the hospital to accept the patient. Furthermore, the court determined that EMTALAs duty to accept a patient in transfer is only actuated when the hospital is called by another hospital, not by a clinic or physicians office. -
Suits Possible for Failure to Report Child Abuse
Michael Gerardi, MD, FAAP, FACEP, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Goryeb Childrens Hospital in Morristown, NJ, reports that he is aware of several recent lawsuits naming an emergency physician (EP) for failure to diagnose child abuse. -
Assess for These Red Flags for Abuse
Below is a list of some things that EPs should consider to be red flags for abuse, according to Daniel M. Lindberg, MD, an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston: -
"Concussion Laws" Do Affect ED Legal Risks
The concussion laws passed by 39 states establish an expectation for emergency physicians (EPs) involved in the case of a student athlete who has potentially suffered a concussion to have a very low threshold for making the diagnosis of concussion and removing the child from any potential for further injury, says Roger J. Lewis, MD, PhD, a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. -
Is the EP Qualified to Give Clearance?
Concussion laws often require evaluation to be done by a particular class of health care provider one trained in the evaluation and management of a concussion, says William M. McDonnell, MD, JD, an associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at University of Utah in Salt Lake City. -
Tougher Standards for Proving ED Malpractice?
If the plaintiff had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an emergency physician (EP) made a wrong decision, there are so many gray zones in medicine that there would never be a plaintiff judgment again, says Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, chief medical officer for Emergency Medicine Physicians in Canton, OH, and a member of the board of directors at Physicians Specialty Ltd. Risk Retention Group.