Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

Abstract

Medical health care is the right of every citizen of the United States. For this medical right, a law named Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) was put forward which demands emergency health care treatment of patients regardless of their citizen ship, legal status or ability to pay. This research paper presents the historical perspective of EMTALA and its need in the current era. The paper also discusses the duties of medical service providers to the patients and the conditions that makes the implication of law possible.

 

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Discussion5

Historical Perspective5

Obligations under EMTALA5

Definition of an emergency by EMTALA6

Physician obligations under EMTALA6

Response6

Arranging and certifying transfers7

Accepting transfers7

Healthcare - a Right or a Privilege8

EMTALA's effect9

Improved health services for uninsured9

Cost pressures on hospitals10

Conclusion10

References12

Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

Introduction

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), also recognized as the patient antidumping statute, were passed in the year 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) (Zibulewsky, 2001). The law basically deals with medical issues. The initial aim of the law was to ensure emergency medical care access to patients and to avoid patient dumping. The law also aimed to avoid transferring of patients from private hospitals to public hospitals due to financial reasons without considering their medical condition.

In the beginning, the law spread an air of controversy, but now it is considered as a law that guarantees access to emergency medical care on nondiscriminatory basis. The amendments in the law have made it an integral part of the patient care in any hospital setting. Therefore, it is necessary for all the physicians on the hospital staff, not just emergency physicians, to have familiarity with general requirements of EMTALA. The law has the authority to impose fines and penalties in case of violation. Emergency assistance is needed in all cases of exacerbation of chronic diseases or acute, which can lead to life-threatening complications. Do not delay calling for emergency medical help! It is much easier to cope with the disease at the outset.

Discussion

Historical Perspective

In the year 1986, physicians from Cook County Hospital in Chicago wrote articles concerning the extent patient dumping. According to them, dumping is the denial of medical services to a patient for financial reasons and thus transferring the patient somewhere else. The majority of such transfers made by the particular hospital were either unemployed or belonging to minorities. The transferred patients were twice as likely to die at the transferring hospital. Moreover, the articles wrote that 24% of the patients were transferred while having an unstable condition (Zondorak, 2003).

The conclusion was made that these acts are a result of financial reasons and as a result, patient's care is delayed. It is believed that guide lines of patient's health safeguard were already there, but without the force of law. Therefore, these guidelines were ignored by private hospitals and doctors. This proved the visible impotence of the law that was already present in the books, and the increasing pressure on the ...