2003-09-19 -- Patient Dumping Laws Dumped by Bush


Vote Health Newsletter, September 2003

Patient Dumping Legislation Dumped by Bush

It just got even more dangerous to be uninsured and ill or needing
emergency care.  The Bush administration has decided that the 1986
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, was too great a
burden for hospitals that participate in Medicare and offer emergency
services.  In typical Republican distaste for regulation and embrace
of "corporate responsible", this hard-won legislation is now more
profit-making "friendly" and worse for patients.

EMTALA basically stated that if a patient shows up at an emergency
room or clinic and proves to have a medical emergency, the hospital
has to provide treatment to stabilize the patient's condition.  This
meant having backup specialists such as neurosurgeons on call, and
admitting the patient to the hospital if necessary in the course of
stabilizing the condition.

Unfortunately, not even the experts understand exactly how the new
rules sill change the system, but this much is clear.  Patients will
find it more difficult to obtain certain types of emergency care at
some hospitals or clinics that hospitals own and operate.  For
instance, hospitals need not have specialists "on call" around the
clock.  Although specialists can be expensive and difficult to
schedule, having access to them can mean the difference between life
and death for some types of medical situations.

Even more important, the rule saying that hospitals have to examine
and treat people who require emergency medical care, regardless of
ability to pay, is being "relaxed."  During the 1980s, Vote Health was
a major force in the two-year campaign to pass strict legislation in
California banning what is known as "patient dumping."  Stiff
penalties were given to hospitals and physicians who turned away
emergency patients who did not have the ability to pay for services.

This landmark legislation, AB 214, by Assemblyman Burt Margolin, was
made into law as Chapter 1225 of 1987.  It took effect in January of
1988 and has saved many lives in the 15 years since then.  Vote Health
also worked closely with our local Congressman Pete Stark, who was the
author of the federal statute now under attack.