1. Describe both the hospital and physician's ethical and legal responsibilities.

"In Burditt v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, [(the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)] was violated by a physician when he ordered a woman with dangerously high blood pressure (210/130) and in active labor with ruptured membranes transferred from the emergency department of one hospital to another hospital 170 miles away. The physician was assessed a penalty of $20,000. Dr. Louis Sullivan, secretary of HHS at that time, issued a statement: 'This decision sends a message to physicians everywhere that they need to provide quality care to everyone in need of emergency treatment who comes to a hospital.This is a significant opinion and we are pleased with the result.'

With the duty of care defined in EMTALA,medicare-providing hospitals must provide a medical screening exam to any individual who enters the emergency department and examination for a medical condition. If the hospital determines that an individual has a medical emergency, it must then stabilize the condition or provide for an appropriate transfer to another medical facility. The hospital is obligated to provide these services regardless of the individual's ability to pay and without delay to inquire about the individual's method of payment or insurance status.

Those ED physicians who do not wish to treat all patients of their choosing should vote with their feet and work in those settings where they can choose who they treat."Pozgar, 2020, p. 196 (citing Dakhari, E., 2016).