Question

Briefly explain the Emergency Medical Treatment & Active Labor Act--what counts as an emergency, and what are the general requirements placed on care providers/hospitals?

Answer 1

The EMTALA was first initiated or enacted in the year 1986.This is also called as anti dumping law. It is categorised under COBRA. The main reason is to initiate this is to save the women in labor who attends hospital should not be avoided or not treated on the grounds of inability to pay.

Anything which is considered to be fatal and if endangers the life is termed to be emergency. All hospitals which has Medicare should accept EMTALA cases.It has three obligation like doing medical screening,equality in care,getting informed consent if they diny have a particular service to save the patient.

The hospital and provider is required to provide service to patient who are in emergency situation irrespective of seeing any background like race ,gender, socioeconomic status, citizenship, financial status,etc.,

These hospitals are not supposed to transfer the patient's who are in need of emergency care. They have to be stabilized in order to transfer. The hospital can transfer a patient if it doesn't have that services after getting an informed consent and stabilization of the patient.

It there can is a violation then the hospital, provider can be terminated, penalized for the act legally.