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Question: Were debating two questions in our hospital regarding when EMTALA applies. First, does the law apply to patients who only are holding in the ED because there are no beds available in the hospital? And does it apply when an air ambulance uses our helipad but does not bring the patient to our ED?
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Q&A: Food and Drug Administration's actions on dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids. Altern Med Alert 2004;7(3 Suppl):S1-S2.
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Greenfield RH. Fat intake and breast cancer risk. Altern Med Alert 2004;7(3):36.
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Kim YH. Mindulness meditation and chronic pain. Altern Med Alert 2004;7(3):33-35.
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Recent cases involving the undertreatment of pain, the over-treatment of pain (and thereby the creation of addicts), and whether drug seekers have any legal rights to pain management have created management problems for the emergency physician. This issue of ED Legal Letter will look at some of these cases. The author addresses recent changes in pain management medications, and readers will be able to develop a practical approach to the patient with pain with fewer worries about the legal consequences.
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Nearly every document that makes any mention of a patient in your facility can be considered protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), says Veronica A. Marsich, JD, a shareholder with the law firm of Smith Haughey in East Lansing, MI, specializing in health care issues.
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A post-kidney transplant patient was admitted to a hospital with urosepsis and was placed in the intensive care unit. He was intubated; but when his airway became obstructed, efforts to correct the situation were unsuccessful, and he died. The case settled for $800,000.
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A young man went to an emergency department in the afternoon complaining of discomfort in his throat. Surgery was performed to address an abscess. That evening, after his family had gone home, he suffered from cardiac arrhythmia, went into a coma, and died three days later. His wife and two sons brought suit for wrongful death.
