Tennessee Hospital Defeats Claim Over Prisoner’s Emergency Care

A Tennessee hospital won’t face trial on a claim that its emergency room failed to properly screen a prisoner-patient in violation of the federal emergency care law, leading to his death.

Plaintiff Omarii McCleary didn’t introduce any evidence that Sweetwater Hospital Association’s emergency department treated his father, Joshua McCleary, differently than other similarly situated patients or that a patient screened before him had a less serious medical condition, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee said Monday. Judge Curtis L. Collier granted the hospital summary judgment on Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act claims.

Congress adopted EMTALA ...