can I do anything about a hospital discharging my husband because didn’t have insurance.

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can I do anything about a hospital discharging my husband because didn’t have insurance.

My husband was in South Carolina working and his blood pressure was extremely high they took him to the ER when they took him back they told him they would get it down when he told him he had no insurance they gave him some pills and told him he could go his blood pressure was 195/116 when he left. He had to drive 7 hours to get home to go to the hospital where he was admitted.

Asked on July 25, 2017 under Malpractice Law, Kentucky

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 7 years ago | Contributor

Unless it was an actual urgent emergency (i.e. time sensitive), the hospital could turn him away if he had no insurance; hospitals do not need to provide non-emergency charity care. (Just going to the ER does not by itself make it an emergency; again, the issue is whether the situation was an emergency and he urgently needed care then.)
Also, based on what you write, your husband is ok (we certainly hope that is the case). If that is the case, there is no point in legal action: you can only recover compensation for actual harm, costs, expenses, or injuries incurred because or due to the alleged wrongful act; if your husband was not injured by the refusal to treat him, then even if you could hold the hospital liable, you would spend far more on the lawsuit (since you'd have to hire a doctor or other medical expert to testify) than you would get back.


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