In: Anatomy and Physiology
Write a 1,000-1,250 word paper in which you analyze a scenario using the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
You are the administrator on call for Hospital A and are responsible for accepting and rejecting patients. You receive a call at 2:00am from Health Hosptial B regarding a patient with a severed ear.
The ED physician is calling to arrange an EMTALA-qualified transfer from his hospital to yours, but the ENT physician on call at your hospital is refusing to accept the transfer, stating that the patient does not need a higher level of care.
You call your ENT on call and he admits he has just had three glasses of wine and will not be available for about 6 hours. You electronically send him the record that Health Hospital B would send with the patient. The ENT physician advises that the ear looks salvageable and could easily be sutured in any ED. The ED physician at Health Hospital B is ver nervous about the possibility of an EMTALA violation.
1. If you decide to reject the patient, is this a violation of EMTALA? Explain.
2. What decision will you make as the administrator? Explain.
3. Based on this scenario, what could be implemented to prevent this type of situation from occurring in the future?
4. Under what scenario would the Hospital A physician be concerned about an EMTALA situation?
1. Yes,it is a EMTALA violation, if Administrator decide to reject the patient. In hospital A as a administrator he has the Authority to Decline a Transfer Request if the hospital does not have the capability and/or capacity to accept such transfer but here in this case the on call doctor is rejecting the case saying that he is not able to attend the case as he is drunk
2.As a administrator, I will transfer the patient to another hospital because of ENT doctor rejection. I will made strict rules about attending the EMTALA patients to the doctors in the hospital. I will take action on the doctor who failed to attend the case.
3.Based on the scenario strict rules are implemented for doctors to attend the EMTALA patients. If there is only one specialist we have to set timings for him to attend the ED patients and have to hire another doctor in that specialisation so that 24 hours time schedule is covering.
4. Hospital A physician be concerned as voilation of EMTALA because he reject the patient as he is drunk. The on call doctor must present with in time. Even though he advised for hospital b doctor saying that no need for high level of care, and can be treated in their hospital it comes under violation of EMTALA as he is rejecting the case because as he is drunk.