McCullum v. Silver Cross Hosp.,

McCullum v. Silver Cross Hosp.,

No. 99 C 4327 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 28, 2001)

A pregnant African-American woman whose condition, thought to be complications
from a urinary tract infection, was assessed by the emergency room nurse as
urgent rather than emergent, sued the hospital claiming EMTALA violations and
racial discrimination following the premature delivery and subsequent death
of her 22-week-old fetus. The discrimination claim stemmed from the woman’s
allegation that the screening nurse never attempted to admit her to the OB floor
but did directly admit a Caucasian woman when she presented to the ER. The woman
claimed that the hospital violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active
Labor Act (“EMTALA”) by not connecting her to a fetal monitor so that
her premature labor could be diagnosed and controlled, and that the failure
to do so was a violation of the duty imposed on the hospital by EMTALA to conduct
“an appropriate medical screening examination to determine whether an emergency
medical condition exists.”

The lower court dismissed her claims based upon a determination that she could
not establish “purposeful discrimination” by the hospital based upon
her race. In dismissing the woman’s EMTALA claims, the court found that the
hospital had followed its standard screening policy and had determined that
she was not in an emergent condition. The court stressed the fact that EMTALA
was not intended to be used as a federal malpractice statute but was intended
to prevent emergency rooms from “dumping” patients who could not pay
for their care, a situation which was inapplicable to the facts of this case.