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In a series of questionable decisions, a California federal court allowed a plaintiff to bring a "failure-to-screen" claim under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) against a hospital for what was really an ordinary state malpractice claim for "failure to diagnose," and then held that California's $250,000 damages cap wouldn't apply because the EMTALA claim was not a "professional negligence" claim as contemplated by the state's tort reform law - the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA).
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The dangers of sleep deprivation and fatigue can no longer be ignored.
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You are working one evening, and the EMS dispatch center calls. The ambulance is bringing in a 35-year-old male motor vehicle collision victim who is unresponsive and has a BP of 80 palpable. So, what happens next in your emergency department? Who do you assemble? What equipment do you gather? Do you call the blood bank and the operating room?
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Concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI), create challenges for the emergency care provider.
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Procedural sedation is an important tool for the emergency department physician, especially when faced with a child who requires a painful procedure. The ability to adequately address the pain and anxiety of the child and safely complete the procedure is rewarding to both the physician and the family of the child.
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One after the other, videotapes on primetime news showed a patient, Esmin Green, being ignored by ED staff as she lay dying on a waiting room floor in a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital after waiting almost 24 hours for a bed. What impact will this "horror story" case, and others like it, have on ED litigation?
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A patient, Scruggs, presented to Danville (VA) Regional Medical Center (DRMC) ED about 2 a.m. complaining of two days of prolonged dry heaves. He was triaged in the usual manner, prioritized as "non-urgent," and instructed to wait in the waiting area until his name was called. The court pointedly noted that the triage nurse failed to document the patient's "diabetic ketoacidosis condition or his history of diabetes."