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For the week of March 14 through 20, 2001

Federal charge against hospital unsubstantiated


By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer

St. Luke’s received good news last week from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), an agency of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

In a letter dated March 5, the HCFA told hospital administrator Jon Moses that a complaint of refusing treatment to an emergency room patient on Nov. 21 was "unsubstantiated." Refusing such treatment is a violation of the federal Social Security Act.

The Nov. 21 event was investigated by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare after it received a complaint from the 14-year-old patient’s mother. She stated that the hospital had refused to provide psychiatric treatment for her daughter, who was in a suicidal state.

According to the ER report, a doctor conducted a physical exam on the patient. However, since a psychiatric examination is outside the capability of St. Luke’s emergency department, the ER doctor called the patient’s pediatrician. The report said the pediatrician recommended that the patient go to a psychiatric facility.

According to the report, the ER doctor advised that the girl be taken to one of the psychiatric facilities in Boise, Twin Falls or Blackfoot, but the patient and mother refused.

According to the complaint, the mother said she didn’t recall being given any options by the ER doctor for treating her daughter.

Federal law requires that a hospital provide "an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department."

According to the ER report, the mother called from the hospital to her daughter’s psychiatrist, who recommended the patient be sent to the psychiatric facility in Blackfoot. The mother refused this recommendation also.

The investigation by Health and Welfare found that the patient was then discharged with the mother at the mother’s wishes.

The letter from HCFA, although absolving the hospital of any wrongdoing, did include a caution: "It does not appear that the hospital has policies specifically directed at handling psychiatric emergencies."

Moses said on Monday the hospital had remedied the deficiency and now has such a policy in place.

HCFA is the federal agency that finances, runs and oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the hospitals that participate in them.

 

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