Preston v. Meriter Hosp. (Summary)

EMTALA

Preston v. Meriter Hosp., Inc., No. 03-1376 (Wis. Ct. App. Feb. 26, 2004)

The Court of Appeals of Wisconsin affirmed the dismissal of a patient’s failure to stabilize and failure to screen complaints filed under EMTALA following the death of her prematurely delivered child in the hospital’s birth center.

The court held that EMTALA’s stabilization requirement in §1395dd only applies to patients the hospital transfers. The court also found that EMTALA’s medical screening requirement only bligates the hospital to screen individuals who present with an emergency condition to the emergency room. This patient was not transferred (and entered the hospital via the birthing center rather than the emergency room), so neither provision was applicable. In a footnote, the court noted the Department of Health and Human Services’ expansion of the concept of “emergency room” in 42 C.F.R. §489.24(b) to include a broad range of hospital departments, but found this provision inapplicable at the time of the hospitalization.