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Judge dismisses suit by uninsured patients against hospitals

Compliance Monitor, October 27, 2004

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Three uninsured patients could not sue Baptist Health System in federal court--because they already had lost in state court when the Birmingham, AL system sued them to collect unpaid medical bills, according to an October Associated Press (AP) report. To sue in federal court, the plaintiffs should have filed counterclaims to Baptist's collection suits, the judge ruled.

The patients alleged illegal collection practices and overcharging. The Baptist case is the first one to be dismissed at the defendant's request this year out of the 48 filed nationally on behalf of the uninsured by Richard Scruggs, the Mississippi lawyer who sued tobacco companies.

The judge also dismissed the plaintiffs' claims that Baptist violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), the federal law that requires a hospital to provide emergency medical care regardless of ability to pay. The patients did receive treatment.

Archie Lamb, the local lawyer in Baptist's case, told AP he was disappointed and will re-file a suit on behalf of other patients whose cases will not have the procedural problems cited by the judge.

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