Feds rarely punish hospitals for turning away pregnant patients
An Associated Press analysis has found that hospitals are rarely fined for violating a federal law that is supposed to guarantee that patients with medical emergencies get the treatment they need
By AMANDA SEITZ
Published - Sep 13, 2024, 03:44 PM ET
Last Updated - Sep 13, 2024, 03:44 PM EDT
As the pregnant woman's contractions rolled in every two minutes, staff at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, dispatched an ambulance to send her elsewhere.
Just two minutes later, she gave birth to a 6-pound baby girl in the cab of the ambulance down the road from the 900-bed hospital.
The incident, government investigators concluded last year, was a violation of a federal law that requires emergency rooms to stabilize patients in medical distress before discharging or transferring them.
Yet, Our Lady of the Lake has never been been penalized for that incident or any of its other violations of the law. Few emergency rooms ever are.
