Mazurkiewicz v. Doylestown Hosp.,

Mazurkiewicz v. Doylestown Hosp.,
No. 01-CV-5418 (E.D. Pa. July 19, 2002)

The
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania declined
to dismiss a claim by a man who was discharged from a hospital before his condition
had stabilized, allegedly in violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and
Active Labor Act ("EMTALA"). He was admitted to the hospital for several
days after being seen in the emergency department, but his actual condition
was not diagnosed accurately until after his discharge, when he went to another
hospital’s emergency room. The court held that it could not dismiss the EMTALA
portion of the complaint because it was "possible" for the patient
to show that the first hospital "actually diagnosed him with the
emergency medical condition." The claim against the individual doctor,
an ENT specialist, was dismissed, as EMTALA does not provide a civil action
against a doctor.