Accessing Health Care in an Emergency
If you are having a medical emergency, you have a right to be seen at a hospital emergency room.
Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), hospital emergency rooms have to give emergency care to people, even if they are not insured or cannot pay. EMTALA applies to any hospital that takes Medicare or Medicaid. It does not apply to military or VA hospitals. See here for details about EMTALA.
When individuals go to the emergency room, they have to be examined by a health care professional, like a doctor or nurse, to see if they need emergency care. If they do, the hospital must provide enough care to stabilize them, until the emergency is over. This does not mean that individuals will get treatment for all of their medical needs. They will only get treatment to the point where their lives are not in immediate danger.
- Example: if an individual goes to the hospital because they are unable to breathe, they would have to be seen by a doctor or nurse. The hospital would have to treat the patient until they could breathe again on their own. The hospital might give medication or oxygen to help the person breathe. But if the reason the patient couldn’t breathe is because they had asthma, the hospital would not have to keep treating the patient’s asthma once the emergency was over.
- Example: if an individual with cancer has a high fever, is in extreme pain, and is vomiting, they pay decide to go to the emergency room. The patient would be examined to see if their life is in immediate danger. If it is they would be treated. The treatment would stop once the patient was stabilized and their life is no longer in immediate danger. The hospital would not have to give additional care, like chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery.