Hospital Improperly Turned Away 2 Patients

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Blair County hospital has been charged with violating a federal law when it turned away patients brought to the 25-bed facility for emergency treatment.
In a report recently made public the state Health Department said the Penn Highlands Tyrone facility turned away a patient who had been brought by ambulance on April 12.
A second patient, according to the report, was turned away on Nov. 11, of last year.
The state surveyors, who were conducting a special monitoring review on June 28 and 29, said both patients were in effect, improperly transferred.
"Every hospital must institute essential life saving measures and provide emergency services that will minimize aggravating the condition of the patient during transport when referral is indicated," the report states.
In one of the cases an emergency room physician greeted the ambulance and turned it away before the patient could be unloaded.
The report cites the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Law, which requires hospitals to perform a screening examination and stabilize a patient prior to transfer.
"The facility could provide no documentation that a medical screening examination was performed," the report states.
In addition to the failure to examine the hospital was cited for failing to enter the patient names into an emergency room control log book required under the same federal law.
In addition, the survey found the hospital failed to properly transfer the two when it failed to notify the receiving facility in advance.
The hospital did not respond to requests for comment and it failed to file an acceptable plan of correction with the state.
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