Cisneros v. Metro Nashville Gen. Hosp. (Summary)

EMTALA

Cisneros v. Metro Nashville Gen. Hosp., No. 3:11-0804 (M.D. Tenn. Mar. 5, 2013)

A magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee recommended that a hospital’s third-party complaint for indemnification against a physician group and individual physicians be dismissed for failure to state a claim.

A patient brought suit against the hospital and two physicians, among others, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”) after he came to the emergency department alleging that he did not receive an appropriate medical screening examination when he sought treatment for pain in his right eye. The district court granted a motion to dismiss filed by the two physicians, finding that EMTALA does not provide for a private right of action against physicians. The hospital then filed a third-party complaint for indemnification against the physicians for any amount it may be required to pay under EMTALA.

The district court stated that since EMTALA does not provide a private cause of action for violations of EMTALA against the physicians, allowing the hospital to be indemnified by the physicians would essentially allow a hospital to accomplish indirectly what patients are unable to accomplish.