After months of being in the headlines over ED practices
that were designed to get the UC out of general hospital
operations and into high-paying areas of elective practice,
a death in the Emergency Room has resulted in a CMS
EMTALA violation citation according to a hospital press
release.

Hospital physicians had protested practices which they labeled
as dangerous, and the president of the American College of
Emergency Physicians had criticized ED practices as coming
close to violating the EMTALA laws.

The citation threatening expulsion from Medicare was
apparently received March 17 after CMS investigation of an
earlier incident in which an elderly man sat for hours
outside the triage area of the ED.  When the daughter's
complaints finally resulted in attention to the man, he
was reportedly found to be dead.

The hospital release indicated that the hospital had
proper policies and procedures in place, but that the issue
arose due to employee error.  The hospital indicated that
they expected their correction efforts would resolve the
Medicare issue.

Tags: death, Emergency Department, EMTALA, University of Chicago