ED Legal Letter articles from December 2008

ED Legal Letter archives from December 2008

Overcrowded Emergency Department Leads to Lawsuit Over EMTALA.
December 1, 2008... Overcrowded Emergency Department Leads to Lawsuit Over EMTALA By Robert A. Bitterman, MD, JD, FACEP, Contributing Editor A patient, Scruggs, presented to Danville (VA) Regional Medical Center (DRMC) ED about 2 a.m. complaining of two...

Lawsuits may arise from ED 'boarding' practice.
December 1, 2008... Lawsuits may arise from ED 'boarding' practice There's proof it harms patients (This story is Part 1 of a two-part series on liability risks of boarding admitted patients in the ED. This month, we'll report on liability risks of...

Special Report: The Difficult Airway: Part 2. Preparing for Failure.
December 1, 2008... SPECIAL REPORT The Difficult Airway: Part 2. Preparing for Failure By Mark J. Greenwood, DO, JD, FAAEM, FCLM, Flight Physician, Aero Med Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, MI Managing a patient's compromised airway involves preparing...

Who's responsible for the admitted patient in the ED?(emergency department)
December 1, 2008... Who's responsible for the admitted patient in the ED? Keep the ED physician 'out of the loop' "Quit dreaming that your patients are being watched by physicians in the ED." That's what the vice chairman of the Department of Emergency...

Another waiting room death to bring lawsuits?
December 1, 2008... Another waiting room death to bring lawsuits? One after the other, videotapes on primetime news showed a patient, Esmin Green, being ignored by ED staff as she lay dying on a waiting room floor in a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital after...

Does documentation show patient was stabilized?
December 1, 2008... Does documentation show patient was stabilized? Many hospitals have been cited by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) for failure to provide an appropriate medical screening examination for mental health patients, or for discharging...

CNE/CME Objectives/Questions.
December 1, 2008... CNE/CME Objectives After completing this activity, participants will be able to: 1. Identify legal issues relating to emergency medicine practice; 2. Explain how these issues affect nurses, physicians, legal counsel, management,...