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Medical Malpractice Claim or EMTALA Violation?

By Janice G. Inman
June 21, 2013

When a patient enters a hospital emergency room, there is always the possibility that he will be unsatisfied with the care he receives, justifiably or not. The patient might then bring a state-law medical malpractice action, but he might also seek to recover damages for violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), 42 U.S.C. ' 1395dd.

EMTALA was enacted to prevent the practice of “patient dumping,” where an emergency medical facility refuses to treat a patient, generally because he is unlikely to be able to pay for services rendered. It provides that when a patient presents at a covered hospital with an emergent condition (as defined by ' 1395dd(e)(1)), the facility must adequately screen him to evaluate his condition (' 1395dd(a)) and transfer him to a more appropriate place for treatment or discharge him only after properly stabilizing his condition
(' 1395dd(b)).

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