Has the emergency department violated EMTALA’s access to services policy?

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Treatment Act (EMTALA) was passed to finish the “throwaway” of people that presented to the emergency department (ED) for care but didn’t have insurance to pay for these services.

As a results of these regulations, EMTALA requires the emergency department to conduct appropriate screening when any person presents to the emergency department and, if a medical emergency exists, to supply treatment to stabilize the condition. EMTALA also includes criteria in keeping with which a patient could also be transferred to a different facility. In the next thing from the United States District Court in Puerto Rico is assessing the problem of whether the Emergency Department on the Caribbean Medical Center (CMC) complied with its obligations under EMTALA.

Specificity of the case

A 79-year-old man had a history of hyperlipidemia, peripheral vascular disease, gastritis, and diabetes. He was also a chronic cigarette smoker and had a history of alcohol abuse. One day, a patient developed severe abdominal and chest pain, so his wife called 911 to take him to the hospital. After the ambulance arrived, paramedics examined him and documented that he was experiencing abdominal pain and an irregular heartbeat. The documentation was handed over to the hospital staff. After the second assessment, the patient was taken by ambulance to the emergency department. A nurse checked him around 7:40 p.m. The nurse documented that the patient’s chief criticism was severe abdominal pain, chest pain of “severe severity,” and areas of pain involving “the right and left chest and upper and lower abdomen.” The patient’s condition was classified as emergency and roughly one hour At 19:49 the doctor admitted him. The doctor diagnosed “tenderness in the upper abdomen”. He ordered various laboratory tests and prescribed the patient various medications. At about 20:50 it was found that the patient was unresponsive and had no pulse. Attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful. 35, he was pronounced dead. The final diagnosis was acute cardiac arrest. The patient’s family filed a lawsuit against the power, the doctor who treated him within the ER, and various insurance firms, alleging that the power violated EMTALA regulations by failing to supply appropriate medical examinations, which led to his death. the patient. They also accused the power of skilled negligence within the patient’s care. The family accused the power of failing to implement or follow the diagnosis and treatment protocols for chest pain and/or acute coronary syndrome. The protocols required an ECG inside 10 minutes of patient arrival and administration of specific medications (e.g., anticoagulants, antiplatelet medications). CMC and one in every of the insurance firms filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against them. The basis for his or her motion was that the family had not made a claim under EMTALA and that their case was not barred by the statute of limitations for state skilled negligence claims. The patient’s family objected to the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that their case was not time-barred because that they had submitted written notice of their claims.

Decision of the Court

In its Memorandum and Order, the court reviewed and analyzed applicable case law and EMTALA. The Court opined that when a plaintiff alleges a violation of the EMTALA screening rules, the person doesn’t need to prove that she or he is affected by a medical emergency. On the contrary, the failure to conduct an adequate review constitutes a “sufficient” basis for establishing liability if the opposite elements of a explanation for motion are met. The court said the power’s internal procedures “set the parameters” for appropriate control. The court also found that CMC is an EMTALA-covered hospital. Because CMC and the insurance company didn’t dispute any of the plaintiff’s material facts (e.g., no EKG inside 10 minutes of arrival, patient’s condition was emergency), the court denied their motion to dismiss the EMTALA claim. Defendants’ contention that plaintiffs didn’t timely file their skilled negligence claims was also rejected. On this point, the court stated that “it involves problems with credibilityThe court denied the motion to dismiss, but instructed defendants that, after the investigation was accomplished, they could reconsider their state negligence claim by filing a motion for summary judgment.

Your role as a nurse within the ED

This court decision underscores the importance of EMTALA in ensuring that every one presenting to the emergency department is correctly evaluated and treated to stabilize the patient’s condition. Emergency department nurses are sometimes the primary employees to interact with someone arriving on the emergency department. That is why it’s so necessary to follow the foundations and procedures in force in your facility, that are consistent with the EMTALA standard. Moreover, as on this case, accurate, clear, and complete documentation regarding triage decisions and patient care is critical in deciding whether a patient’s condition constitutes an emergency under EMTALA. Another aspect of your role is patient advocacy. In this case, it seems that no staff member vocalized the undeniable fact that no hospital protocol was implemented for a patient with these symptoms. Because patient advocacy involves legal and ethical responsibilities, it is incredibly necessary that in the event you don’t follow instructions, you raise your concerns with anyone identified in your facility’s policies and procedures.

Take these child care and documentation courses:

This module provides nurses with an understanding of the history, types and methods of patient triage in emergency departments, with particular emphasis on five-tier triage systems.

Professional nurses are essential partners to other healthcare professionals, and nursing documentation is a necessary element of comprehensive patient care. Although documentation has all the time been a crucial a part of nursing practice, the increasingly complex health care environment, litigious society, and number of settings through which patients receive care require nurses to pay greater attention to documentation. This continuing education module discusses the importance of documentation, different documentation formats and settings, and what nurses must document, including details about difficult situations.

In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to be certain that the general public had access to emergency services no matter ability to pay. Some states have their very own statutes much like EMTALA. Healthcare professionals working in clinical areas where EMTALA is used must concentrate on its basic requirements so as to provide patients with the care they’re entitled to under the law. Supervisors in such areas must be certain that their employees are properly trained about EMTALA and that an EMTALA policy is in place.