Court rules birth center newborns are entitled to EMTALA screening exams
Health Care Auditing Strategies, August 1, 2005
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Consider this question:
A woman is admitted to a hospital birthing center. She gives birth to a baby who has an emergency medical condition. At this point, is the newborn entitled to a medical screening under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)?
This is the question recently considered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the case of Shannon Preston v. Meriter Hospital. In a decision issued July 13, the court concluded that EMTALA obligates hospitals to provide a medical screening examination to newborns with emergent medical conditions who present to the emergency room (ER) or are born in the hospital's birthing center.
Experts familiar with the decision say providers should update recordkeeping and procedures for newborns in light of this case. "We have to document births the way that we would document for EMTALA," advises Sarah E. Coyne, Esq., of Quarles & Brady, LLP, in Madison, WI. (In the interest of disclosure, Coyne says she has worked for Meriter, but not on this case.)
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