Federal officials have announced a new platform to report denied emergency care directly to the U.S. government.
All Americans are entitled to emergency medical care under a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act or EMTALA. The law states hospitals that receive federal funds must stabilize or transfer patients needing emergency care, regardless of whether they can pay or have mental illness. It means that hospitals cannot turn patients away and any patients who believe they were wrongly turned away can file an EMTALA complaint.