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by somerandomqaguy
528 days ago
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To a degree. You have to keep in mind that a hospital emergency room isn't legally permitted to turn you away even if you can't pay under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. So the wealthy and insured are covered. The lowest rungs and those that don't care and will just run away are covered. It's mostly lower / middle lower class that this really hurts, ironically. |
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They're really not. They are only entitled to "stabilizing care".
I work as a paramedic. We have had situations with "frequent fliers" where when we've called the hospital to give a report as we are transporting, the hospital will say "let us know when you're here", and when we've done so, there's literally been a physician come out to the ambulance.
"Hey, X, what's happening?"
"I got a lot of fluid in my gut (he had ascites)."
"Okay, well, that's not new, and it looks like you have an appointment for having that fluid drawn in two days."
"Oh, okay."
"Anything else bothering you?"
"Nope."
"Alright, we're good then." Gives us a nod.
"We're going in then?"
"Uh, no. You have been by a physician, you're stable, you're good to go, you can jump off their gurney and head home now."
Which is harsh - but also this person at this point was being transported 4+ times _per day_.
But EMTALA only requires acute stabilizing care, not definitive management.