NIV is increasingly accepted as an alternative to endotracheal intubation (ETI) for the management of respiratory failure, both acute and chronic.
Whenever an individual enters an ambulance (or medical helicopter) owned and operated by a hospital, the federal government deems the person to have come to the hospitals emergency department for purposes of triggering the hospitals obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).1
Not surprisingly, if a consultant is unavailable and a bad outcome occurs, the emergency physician (EP) is potentially a defendant in any subsequent medical malpractice lawsuit, says Damian D. Capozzola, JD, an attorney with Crowell & Moring, LLP, in Los Angeles, CA.
