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Margaret Bergin, an attorney with Palumbo Wolfe in Phoenix, AZ, and a former hospital risk manager, says the longer the psychiatric patient is allowed to remain in an ED without mental evaluation, the higher the possibility that the patient will leave against medical advice (AMA).
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A common diagnostic dilemma for emergency medicine physicians is the patient who presents with a painful testicle. Frequently, the presentations of the various conditions that cause scrotal pain and most frequently testicular torsion fail to "conform to the accepted clinical picture."
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The abuse of drugs and alcohol is a significant and troubling problem within the medical community.
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This is the second of a two-part series on documentation and ED liability. This month, we cover liability risks when the ED physician or nurse's documentation is inconsistent with documentation by other caregivers. Last month, we reported on the legal risks of inadequate documentation and information that should not be omitted.
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One of the major issues currently facing emergency ultrasound is credentialing, according to Leonard Bunting, MD, FACEP, assistant professor of emergency ultrasound at Wayne State University and emergency ultrasound director at St. John Hospital & Medical Center, both located in Detroit, MI.
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Given the fact that most emergency medicine residencies now include ultrasound in their training, and the use of ultrasound in EDs is clearly increasing, one obvious liability risk involves misreads of ultrasound examinations performed in the ED.
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Kreisman explained that, like any patient presenting to the ED, psychiatry patients are covered under EMTALA. As such, they are subject to the same requirements of an appropriate medical screening, stabilizing treatment, and appropriate transfer.
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Estimates in the past 10 years have consistently reported about 6 million Americans aged 12 or older using cocaine in the past year.
