Woman dies in hospital while being arrested

[OneTimeSBX]

i think people in general just sue entirely too much.

in this case? with all the other problems this hospital had? they need to be sued for every dime they have.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

i think people in general just sue entirely too much.

in this case? with all the other problems this hospital had? they need to be sued for every dime they have.

There's legislation on the table in my state which would completely immunize emergency rooms from claims by uninsured parties.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

There's legislation on the table in my state which would completely immunize emergency rooms from claims by uninsured parties.

ehhhh...so much for the Hippocratic oath....hehehe...

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Kevin

There's legislation on the table in my state which would completely immunize emergency rooms from claims by uninsured parties.

So, if you don't have health insurace, and you have a heart attack, and they refuse to treat you, and you die in the lobby, your family couldn't sue?

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

So, if you don't have health insurace, and you have a heart attack, and they refuse to treat you, and you die in the lobby, your family couldn't sue?

Simple answer?

NO.


If a hospital sees that u have no visible means to pay for treatment they can refuse treatment, in most cases they will get u to sign a waiver...but that still is dependent on state to state laws as well as the facility itself

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Simple answer?

NO.


If a hospital sees that u have no visible means to pay for treatment they can refuse treatment, in most cases they will get u to sign a waiver...but that still is dependent on state to state laws as well as the facility itself

Private hospitals can refuse to treat, but public hospitals cannot. And even private hospitals MUST treat in an emergency.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Private hospitals can refuse to treat, but public hospitals cannot. And even private hospitals MUST treat in an emergency.

and again....the keys here are 'can' and state to state....

Matter of fact let me ask....

Kevin: Where you are, do citizen get charged for the ambulance should they require one?

People in DC and Baltimore City can be charged anywhere from $75 to $150 dollars "service and dischage fee" should you ever require one and bill it to you directly (before they send it to insurance....heh)

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

and again....the keys here are 'can' and state to state....

Matter of fact let me ask....

Kevin: Where you are, do citizen get charged for the ambulance should they require one?

People in DC and Baltimore City can be charged anywhere from $75 to $150 dollars "service and dischage fee" should you ever require one and bill it to you directly (before they send it to insurance....heh)

I know many places you are charged, but the fee is waived if you are admitted.

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

People in DC and Baltimore City can be charged anywhere from $75 to $150 dollars "service and dischage fee" should you ever require one and bill it to you directly (before they send it to insurance....heh)

hell daemon, if you were a bit further south in the wonderful Commonwealth of VA, you could be charged more than that...my fiance got a bill for $375. his insurance covered 100 of it...i understand a fee, but my goodness that is a bit much, dont you think?

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

and again....the keys here are 'can' and state to state....

Matter of fact let me ask....

Kevin: Where you are, do citizen get charged for the ambulance should they require one?

People in DC and Baltimore City can be charged anywhere from $75 to $150 dollars "service and dischage fee" should you ever require one and bill it to you directly (before they send it to insurance....heh)

Lulz...that's a damn cheap ambulance ride. At my company, your insurance is getting billed around $800-1000. So when you hear me complain about medicare and medicaid abuse it's because of these people who are too damn lazy to take a car to their doctors appointments or the emergency room and just call us. We've had patients (regulars) who had to wait for a ride on one of our busy days and when they got tired of waiting their family came and got them. That kind of shit makes me so angry.

Also Alphafrog is correct-public, state-funded hospitals cannot refuse treatment. Private hospitals can. Here's a nice story for you: guy goes to a Fallon clinic (don't know if you know Fallon at all, but their clinics are infamous in my business, we go there a lot). He has chest pain, all the classic signs of an MI (heart attack). He doesn't have insurance. Nurse tells him there's nothing they can do because he's uninsured. Guy goes home, dead the next day.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

So, if you don't have health insurace, and you have a heart attack, and they refuse to treat you, and you die in the lobby, your family couldn't sue?

Nah, I think it's more like if the doctor (who isn't going to get paid to help you) gives you negligent care, you're not going to be able to sue him.

In this case, I don't know just by reading the article whether or not the hospital is even going to be in trouble. The standard of care for a facility of this type is going to be really, really low. As a matter of law, this woman's estate might have no case as crazy as it seems.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Nah, I think it's more like if the doctor (who isn't going to get paid to help you) gives you negligent care, you're not going to be able to sue him.

In this case, I don't know just by reading the article whether or not the hospital is even going to be in trouble. The standard of care for a facility of this type is going to be really, really low. As a matter of law, this woman's estate might have no case as crazy as it seems.

I believe also, in some cases (again dependent on the state) since an ER's job also it is to triage patients, they can refer patients who are not suffereing from life threatening symptoms to urgent care facilities and if they can get a person to go and free up space for true life threatening situations, they take the liability off of themselves.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

In this case, I don't know just by reading the article whether or not the hospital is even going to be in trouble. The standard of care for a facility of this type is going to be really, really low. As a matter of law, this woman's estate might have no case as crazy as it seems.

Wouldn't it be standard of care for the type of medicine, not necessarily for the type of facility? We talked about this quite a bit in class, about the standard of care being somewhat fixed. That may be more CT tort law though, so I could be wrong.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Wouldn't it be standard of care for the type of medicine, not necessarily for the type of facility? We talked about this quite a bit in class, about the standard of care being somewhat fixed. That may be more CT tort law though, so I could be wrong.

Torts was so long ago

Whatever the standard of care is will usually be defined by whatever your local legislature, in its wisdom has decided that it is. I'm pretty sure you're right -- the locality rule wouldn't really talk about the type of facility, just the type of medicine. Still though, the standard of care in an overloaded emergency hospital in the worst part of town under the locality rule would be different than say the Yale-New Haven Hospital unless you were one of those national standard folks.

Then, the standard would still have to be established by expert testimony.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Torts was so long ago

Whatever the standard of care is will usually be defined by whatever your local legislature, in its wisdom has decided that it is. I'm pretty sure you're right -- the locality rule wouldn't really talk about the type of facility, just the type of medicine. Still though, the standard of care in an overloaded emergency hospital in the worst part of town under the locality rule would be different than say the Yale-New Haven Hospital unless you were one of those national standard folks.

Then, the standard would still have to be established by expert testimony.

Haha, sorry, don't want to dredge up all the 1L stuff. I actually had a talk with my torts professor about this very point, i.e. it not making sense to hold small community hospital A to the same standard as big educational medical center B. I'm pretty sure CT does precisely that, and I think that's one reason why CT medical professionals are trying hard to revamp the med-mal system here in the state.

If you want to read a solid book on the topic (you know, in your free time, haha), Damages by Barry Werth talks about a family going through the med-mal system.