Back to School

I'm taking a course on Bioethics and Law this semester, and the topic of the first lecture this morning just happened to be EMTALA, the unfunded federal mandate requiring medical screening exams and stabilization of every patient that walks into an Emergency Department.  The case itself was an interesting one that I'm too young to remember; a 1993 battle between the mother of Baby K, a permanently unconscious anencephalic infant with a very limited life expectancy, and the treating hospital over whether the child should continue to receive heroic measures instead of palliative care during every respiratory crisis.  Ultimately, a ruling was issued in favor of the mother, and Baby K lived to reach two and half years old.  It was a great discussion about an unintended consequence of EMTALA, and will hopefully signal the start to a great semester.  

When I head into work tonight, however, I'm sure to face several equally unintended, but far less dramatic, consequences of EMTALA...