Opinion ID: 1822880
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: EMTALA and the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act

Text: Defendant argues that when a plaintiff joins a medical malpractice claim with alternative theories of liability, the entirety of the plaintiffs case is subject to the medical review panel requirement. This argument, of course, raises such issues as whether EMTALA incorporates procedural and substantive provisions of the applicable state law and whether EMTALA preempts any of those provisions. The statutory definition of malpractice and the federal and state prohibition against patient dumping often involve similar conduct. The term malpractice has its roots (and relevance) in differentiating professionals from nonprofessionals for purposes of applying certain statutory limitations on tort liability. Health care providers are said to practice their profession, and their negligence in providing such professional services is called malpractice. Maraist & Galligan, supra at § 21-2. On the other hand, hospitals, which are the only health care providers covered by EMTALA, are distinct legal entities that do not, in the traditional sense of the word, practice medicine. In the absence of statute, hospitals are subject to potential tort liability only vicariously on the basis of respondeat superior or independently on the basis of negligent hiring or training of the professional staff members employed by the hospital. Hospitals have frequently avoided even those forms of tort liability by asserting as a defense the independent contractor status of their professional staff members. Indeed, this ability of hospitals to insulate themselves from tort liability, coupled with the general dumping problem, has been cited as one factor prompting Congress' creation of a private cause of action against hospitals in EMTALA. Wendy W. Bera, Comment, Preventing Patient Dumping: The Supreme Court Turns Away the Sixth Circuit's Interpretation of EMTALA, 36 Hous. L.Rev. 615, 623 (1999). In analyzing the relationship between the two anti-dumping statutes (EMTLA, which creates a separate cause of action for damages, and La.Rev.Stat. 40:2113.4 [4] ) and the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act, we first discuss the acts individually in the order of their adoption.