Systems-Based Practice EMTALA: Ethics and the Law

Dr. Em & Dr. Taul's Emergency Room Adventure   Case 3  Neonatal Transfer A 16-year-old presents to the emergency room in a small town 45 miles from UTMB.  Within 30 minutes of the patients arrival she delivers a 950 gm infant that the physician estimates to be of 29 weeks' gestation.  The doctor successfully intubates  the infant.  The infant is being ventilated by ambu bag.   The doctor calls your emergency department to arrange transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit.  Beds are available. The most appropriate arrangement is? Check to see if your unit is on the list of facilities authorized to provide services to the baby by his mother's managed care company. Immediately dispatch the neonatal transport team to pick up the infant and bring to the neonatal intensive care unit. Refer the call to another intensive care unit at a different facility, because you suspect that the infant will have no health coverage and the other hospital is probably a few miles closer to the referring facility. ANSWER