EMTALA applies to almost all hospitals. (Any hospital participating in the Medicare/Medicaid program must abide by the rules set forth by EMTALA) n Expanded reach: you can sue most departments in a hospital that perform medical exams, not just the emergency room. Court cases and administrative regulations have expanded who can be sued under EMTALA. n There are no caps on pain and suffering damages like in many state medical malpractice laws. You can potentially collect much more money on the EMTALA claim then with the state claim. n EMTALA does not require you to prove negligence, just that the doctor, nurse or hospital did not follow the exact requirements spelled out in the statute. This is called strict liability. n Not having to prove negligence saves money on expert fees which can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and makes the case much easier to win. n The time to sue is 2 years after the incident in the hospital. So if the state claim time limit to sue has passed you can still sue under the federal EMTALA within 2 years. n Hospitals are afraid of this investigation: If a violation of the statute is alleged, the federal government comes into the medical facility and investigates not just the claimed violation, but any violation of any type from the statute. This gives the plaintiff lawyer great leverage with the hospital to settle both the state malpractice and federal EMTALA claims quickly and quietly. n If hospitals are in serious violation of the EMTALA statute and do not promptly fix the problem they can lose their Medicare eligibility, which means they cannot collect money from Medicare. This could close the hospital. Trust me, hospitals are more afraid of losing Medicare eligibility than your single EMTALA claim. n So now that we know the benefits of using the EMTALA statute along with state medical malpractice statutes, let’s look at exactly what obligations are placed on hospital personnel by the EMTALA. Remember, if the hospital does not follow the requirements of the statute, they are liable regardless of fault.