Federal and state laws determine when hospitals in Texas have a legal duty to provide health care to an individual who seeks care. Of special concern is the provision of care and treatment when a person has a medical emergency.
There are situations in which a hospital may refuse treatment legally. So, it is important to understand when hospitals may refuse treatment and when they must provide it. Basically, a hospital or doctor may refuse treatment when providing it is not medically necessary. A Texas lawyer would be able to advise a person when a hospital may refuse treatment and when they must provide it.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is the federal law that defines the duty of a hospital to provide treatment to people who seek care. This law applies to hospitals in all states in the U.S. that participate in Medicare.
It was enacted to stop the practice of “patient dumping,” in which hospitals would turn patients away without first addressing their immediate medical needs. They did this when they believed that the patients were not insured and would not otherwise be able to pay for any service the hospital rendered. EMTALA obligates hospitals with emergency departments to render care and treatment under certain circumstances.
First, the hospital must perform the appropriate medical screening for anyone who comes to the emergency room seeking care. The purpose of the screening would be to determine whether a patient has an emergency medical condition.
Per federal law, an emergency medical condition is a condition in which the patient exhibits acute symptoms, such as severe pain.
Per the EMTALA, a hospital must treat the individual if it could reasonably be expected that failure to treat immediately would result in any of the following:
- Serious jeopardy to the individual’s health
- Serious impairment to the individual’s bodily functions
- Dysfunction of one of the individual’s organs, e.g., their heart.
If a patient presents themselves in a hospital or other health care facility that participates in Medicare, the facility must provide treatment.
When Can a Hospital Be Liable for Refusing To Admit or Treat Patients in Texas?
Patients who experience delayed or denied medical care can seek a remedy for the harm they suffered when denied treatment in a medical malpractice claim for hospital negligence. If a hospital were to refuse treatment when it is medically necessary and the refusal resulted in serious injury to the patient’s health or led to the dysfunction of a vital organ, then the hospital would be liable. The hospital refusal would amount to malpractice.
The first step involves a Texas lawyer consultation with a medical malpractice attorney who can evaluate the case and determine if there was negligence on the part of the hospital or a health care professional, e.g., a doctor or nurse. The lawyer would collect and review such evidence as the individual’s medical records, expert opinion, and other documentation of the delay or denial of care as well as its effects on the patient’s health.
On the basis of this review, the lawyer would advise their client as to whether or not they have grounds for a medical malpractice case.
Does It Matter Who Refuses to Provide Treatment?
Who exactly refuses medical treatment is important. This is because some kinds of medical facilities and health care professionals are not subject to the provisions of EMTALA. They are also not required to provide treatment by Texas laws.
For example, doctors in private practice, hospitals without emergency rooms, and medical labs are not required to provide emergency medical care or treatment.
Urgent care centers, on the other hand, that are affiliated with hospitals are required to provide care in the situations defined by the EMTALA.
Of course, just because federal law requires most private hospitals to treat an individual does not mean that they are entitled to having that care delivered immediately when they show up in the ER. In ERs, triage nurses or doctors on duty are professionals who are trained to assess patients’ conditions and prioritize their treatment.
An individual may have to wait for hours to be seen for their condition, even if it is serious, e.g., a broken bone, because another patient shows symptoms indicating that their condition is even more critical. The patients with the most critical conditions are seen first.
Of course, if a triage nurse were to make faulty judgments and fail to prioritize a patient according to the standard of care for ER triage management, they could be liable for nurses negligence.
In addition, a hospital or other health care facility covered by the EMTALA has the right to deny patients emergency medical care in the following situations:
- Patients give indication that they want treatment primarily in order to obtain drugs.
- Patients believe they are suffering from an illness when they are not in fact ill at all.
- Patients behave in a destructive or dangerous manner while waiting to be seen for assessment.
If a patient in the above categories were to present themselves for care in an ER, the hospital would have to stabilize their medical condition and transfer them to another facility.
What Are the Reasons for Hospital Refusal in Texas That Can Trigger Liability?
As noted above, the federal EMTALA was enacted to address the practice of “patient dumping,” hospitals and other care facilities refusing patients care because they believed the patient would not be able to pay for the care or treatment they would provide. Many individuals suffered serious medical consequences because of this practice; some even passed away.
This is still likely to be the main reason that hospitals in Texas refuse treatment to a particular individual. If they do, it would be a clear violation of the EMTALA.
Or, they may refuse care in situations in which they believe they can, because an exception to the requirement to provide care exists, e.g., the patient just wants to obtain a controlled substance to feed an addiction.
However, the hospital or other facility may misjudge the situation, and the patient may suffer serious health consequences because of the misjudgment. In this case, the patient may have grounds for naming the hospital or facility in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
In addition, it is important to keep in mind that the EMTALA requires hospital ERs to stabilize a patient’s health situation or transfer them to an alternative facility that can give them the care they need, even if they think they have a legally sufficient reason to refuse care
What Are Some Common Reasons for Which Texas Hospitals Refuse Treatment or Admission?
Currently, Texas hospitals would refuse treatment or admission because a patient comes within one of the exceptions to the EMTALA. For example, they behave destructively or dangerously in the waiting room of the ER and must be detained by the police.
Federal law protects a person’s right to emergency treatment, whether or not they have health insurance. However, the EMTALA does not apply to private doctors. Doctors may refuse care and treatment to anyone for almost any reason. They can refuse care, because the patient indicates that they would not be able to pay. Again, however, hospitals and urgent care facilities may not refuse care, because a person indicates that they cannot pay.
The only limitation on the right of doctors to refuse to treat an individual is if the refusal constitutes discrimination on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality or religion.
Another issue has arisen in Texas concerning treating women with ectopic pregnancies. Two women have filed suit against hospitals in Texas, because they refused care to them when they had ectopic pregnancies. Both women almost died and each lost a fallopian tube because of the denial of the care they required.
In Texas, almost all abortions are illegal. The punishment to which health care professionals who provide them may be sentenced is harsh, e.g., a maximum of 99 years in prison, and loss of their license to practice medicine. So the legal risk makes health care providers reluctant to offer the necessary treatment for suspected ectopic pregnancies in Texas, which is an abortion.
It is, however, clear that providing an abortion, the necessary treatment for ectopic pregnancy, is legal, even under Texas’s harsh law. Nonetheless, two Texas hospitals refused the necessary treatment to the two complainants. The women allege that fear of criminal prosecution does not justify the violation of the EMTALA.
How Can a Texas Lawyer Help Me?
If you have been refused the medical care you need at a health care facility in Texas, you want to talk to a Texas personal injury lawyer. Your lawyer will be able to get all the facts of your situation. They would also obtain medical records and other documentation about the event. They would want to consult with a medical expert who could also review the evidence. They would provide their opinion as to whether the health care providers involved did not perform up to standard.
With this information, your lawyer would be able to give you their best advice as to your next step and whether you have grounds for a malpractice action. If you do, your lawyer can help you recover the damages award you need for the losses you suffered, because you did not get the treatment to which you were entitled.
