Discussion: "Emergency Situations"

Respond to the following:

• Suppose you work in a hospital that just received twelve patients from a disaster event in your community. Your hospital is able to treat and provide necessary surgical services to those that require surgery. However, five patients are refusing care and requesting to be transferred to another hospital for the same services. Suggest the course of action that the hospital should take to meet the standards of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) related to public health in your community. Provide at least two specific examples to support your rationale.

• Imagine that an unidentified individual with a gunshot wound has been transported to the emergency room. After taking the victim into surgery, the medical team realizes the individual is a minor. Examine the kind of consent that the team should obtain, and determine the resources that they could utilize in order to obtain this consent.