Hospital Cited for Turning Away ER Patient

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Clearfield County hospital has been cited for turning away a clearly distressed patient seeking care in the emergency room.
According to a report from the state Health Department the patient was told by a Penn Highlands Clearfield employee to go home and call for an ambulance. Ultimately an ambulance picked up the patient on the hospital grounds and then brought the patient to the emergency room.
In the report state Health Department surveyors cited a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires that a hospital with an emergency room must provide a prompt examination and treatment.
The hospital "failed to ensure that a medical screening examination was provided for one patient who presented to the emergency room," the report states.
The incident occurred on May 18 at 12:42 p.m. when the patient, accompanied by a relative, arrived at the hospital in the front passenger seat. The state surveyors reviewed hospital records and also viewed videotapes showing the patient's arrival.
"The patient was noted to be extremely upset, embarassed and crying," the report states, adding that the patient, who had suffered a fall, came to the hospital under a doctor's instructions.
"The patient was told by an employee they could not help because the patient was a fall risk," the report states.
Officials of the 50-bed hospital did not respond to requests for comment.
In addition to failing to make a required assessment of the patient, hospital employees failed to enter the patient's first visit into the emergency department log.
"The patient should have been entered into the log and then formally transferred," the report states.
The hospital filed a plan of correction calling for retraining of emergency room employees on the requirements of the federal law and also the handling of "patients of size."
The report also cites the hospital for failure to maintain the required physician-on-call list.
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