Title: Can an emergency room refuse to treat you? | HowStuffWorks
Headings: Can an emergency room refuse to treat you?
Can an emergency room refuse to treat you?
Content: Try shrugging your shoulders at the pub next time they demand $3.50 for your pint. Because at the emergency room, they're obligated to give you urgent care should you need it. Kind of. Advertisement
Turns out the question of whether emergency rooms have to treat you is not a clear yes or no — like a lot of health care-related questions in the United States. At the crux of the issue is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law that seems to dictate that all people who enter an emergency room with an emergency must be treated. But don't run to your nearest emergency department in hopes of a free dose of codeine for your troublesome cold. The EMTALA was passed in 1986, and it doesn't mean walking into the emergency room guarantees you care. Instead, it makes clear that those with an actual emergency (i.e., not your stubborn sinus infection) must be treated and in a stable condition before they can be transferred. Transferred, you say? Why can't those in an emergency just be kept at the hospital they walked into?