Question

The rising number of uninsured patients has led to an increased reliance on the hospital emergency room for routine non-emergency care. The EMTALA is an example of a law that impacts who must be seen when presenting to the emergency room seeking care.


How do the law and the medical profession’s codes of ethics impact those individuals that seek care from emergency departments for reasons other than those that are truly emergencies? Justify your answers with appropriate research and reasoning.


Would this answer be a good one for the above question:

When a patient goes to the emergency department for treatment he/she must first have an appropriate medical screening examination to prove that he/she is suffering from an emergency medical condition. If the condition is considered to be an emergency situation then the hospital has to work on the patient until he/she is in stable condition. If there is no emergency then the hospital is not obligated to work on the patient. There is a legal definition for who is accepted and denied by EMTALA, but the definition leaves much to be desired. The determination is usually a medical one not a legal one.

Answer 1

Right. Good answer.