California Hospital Sees Overdose Screening Failure Suit Revived

A California woman can proceed on claims that a hospital failed to provide her son with an appropriate medical screening exam as required by law, leading to his death from a drug overdose shortly thereafter, a federal appeals court said.

Sandra Shah claimed that an emergency department nurse at Parkview Community Hospital didn’t examine her son before directing that he be placed in the lobby, then that he be removed from the premises before seeing a doctor or nurse. Shah sufficiently alleged a violation of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the US Court of Appeals for the ...