On Friday morning, Washington-based civil rights advocates had formed a panel composed of government officials, patient advocates and scholars to discuss concerns of hospitals discharging uninsured patients to avoid covering medical bills, or otherwise known in the industry as "patient-dumping," The Oregonian said in a report. The panel might have been an answer to a lawsuit filed by a former Multnomah County compliance officer over allegations that the county for their purported ignorance to improper medical billing by by private healthcare providers.
One part of Barbara Alexander-Brown's lawsuit against the county details the alleged regular practice of patient dumping by hospitals in the Portland area. According to the lawsuit, the practice is done whenever county investigators refuse to approve a measure that will make the hospital accountable for the medical bills of the patient. Aside from patient-dumping, Alexander-Brown is also accusing the county of ignoring other illegal practices by hospitals in its jurisdiction.
The Oregonian said that hospitals are required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act to treat patients who admit themselves voluntarily, especially in emergencies, even without health insurance. The hospitals are required to absorb medical costs if a patient could not pay them.
In the panel discussion, experts from the panel outlined concerns about the way hospitals have been treating mentally-ill patients with no health coverage while board members from the US Commission on Civil Rights listened.
Civil rights commission chair Martin Castro addressed the panel, "I personally believe health care is a civil right. We're going to look at whether Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, EMTALA, is sufficiently functioning to protect individuals that are being the victim of patient dumping."
The Oregonian said Castro and his group has expressed their intention to look into the allegations of patient-dumping by hospitals and will report their findings directly to US President Barack Obama.
