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Chair's Column
by Gregory L. Pemberton, Ice Miller, Indianapolis,
IN
I celebrated a birthday recently.
Do not even try to guess which one. When you are as old as dirt, it is understandable
that the celebration is pretty calm.
In any event, celebrating the anniversary of my birth and not being
a year older suits me just fine.
Aging, gracefully or otherwise, beats the alternative.
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Disclosure Of
Medical Errors Is Honesty The Best Policy Legally?
by Ken Braxton and Kip Poe, Stewart Stimmel LLP, Dallas, TX
A majority of states have adopted or are considering apology laws that
exempt expressions of regret, sympathy or compassion from being considered
as admissions of liability in medical malpractice lawsuits. The intent is
to encourage physicians and other healthcare providers to apologize to
patients when a medical error, accident or unanticipated outcome occurs
without the apology being taken as an admission of guilt. The consensus is
that healthcare providers have become reluctant to explain to patients and
their families what happened when procedures go wrong because they fear the
information will be used against them in court. Many healthcare providers
have struggled with their desire to explain and apologize to their patient,
but have often been strongly advised against such open discussions by their
defense attorneys. Is the reluctance justified or is honesty really the
best policy?
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EMTALA: An
Update on Call Coverage and Payments for Services to Undocumented Aliens
by Hilary H. Young, Joy & Young, L.L.P., Austin, TX
During 2003 and 2004, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act
(EMTALA) underwent some changes. Congress passed the Medicare Prescription
Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) in November 2003 and
established a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) charged with reviewing the
EMTALA rules and offering recommendations. Section 1011 of the MMA also
allocated $1 billion to be spent over the ensuing four fiscal years to
reimburse eligible providers for EMTALA-related services rendered to
undocumented aliens (referred to here as the Section 1011 program). The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted revised EMTALA
regulations effective November 10, 2003 and then revised the EMTALA
interpretive guidelines, effective May 13, 2004. On-call coverage continues
to pose challenges; the TAG has met only three times; and the Section 1011
program was not implemented until early in the second fiscal year for which
money has been allocated.
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Interest Group Spotlight
Healthcare Facility Operations
This Healthcare Facility Operations Interest Group
focuses on the laws, regulations, and policies governing the operations of
hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The IG deals with areas of the
law and regulations included within Medicare, Medicaid, EMTALA, state and
local licensure laws and regulations, and standards of national organizations
such as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO), the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education (ACGME), and the National Committee on Quality Assurance.
The IG is led by Chair Alexandria Hien
Nguyen, Baylor Health Care System, Dallas,
TX and Vice Chairs Cyndi M. Baily, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Amos
Carty, Jr., Roy
L. Schneider
Hospital, St.
Thomas, VI; Lisa Sooter,
Stewart & Stimmel, Dallas,
TX and Edward M. Sosa, El
Paso County Hospital District, El
Paso, TX
If you would like to join the Interest Group, continue by clicking the
following link: Health Law Section IG Sign-up Form.
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Do you want to communicate your ideas to
thousands of other members through the wonders of cyberspace? To contribute
a newsletter article on a health law topic, send us your ideas to BielawsA@staff.abanet.org
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The
opinions expressed are those of the authors and shall not be construed to
represent the policies or positions of the ABA
or the ABA
Health Law Section.
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