Title: When a physician may refuse to treat a patient – Physicians News
Headings: When a physician may refuse to treat a patient
When a physician may refuse to treat a patient
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Content: Various laws, including laws governing emergency treatment provided by hospitals and antidiscrimination laws, as well as certain ethical constraints, have significantly limited a physician’s ability to terminate the relationship. The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, commonly referred to as “EMTALA,” was enacted by Congress in response to a concern over “patient dumping” by hospitals refusing treatment of individuals who could not afford to pay for medical services. EMTALA imposes a duty on the hospital and its physicians to provide medical screening examinations and medical stabilization of all individuals seeking emergency care, regardless of the individual’s ability to pay. Under EMTALA, a patient cannot directly sue a physician for not complying with EMTALA’s requirements, but physicians may be subject to civil monetary penalties and may be subject to exclusion from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs for gross and flagrant or repeated violations of EMTALA. Antidiscrimination laws also have affected the circumstances when a physician may deny medical care. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits an otherwise qualified individual with a disability from being excluded from or denied benefits of any program actively receiving federal financial assistance solely by reason of the individual’s disability. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 provides even broader protections for disabled individuals, including individuals who have a contagious disease. Title III of the ADA prohibits a place of public accommodation from denying an individual access to health care because of disability, unless the individual poses a direct threat or significant risk to the health and safety of others that cannot be eliminated by adequate precautions or reasonable modification of policies, practices or procedures. A disabled individual is one who has a physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of impairment, or is regarded as having an impairment. In several cases, the courts have addressed the application of the ADA to a physician’s decision to refuse to treat a patient.