September 23,2024

Wyden Demands Transparency from Hospitals Following Reports of Women Being Denied Emergency Reproductive Health Care

Ahead of historic Finance Committee hearing on reproductive health care, Finance Chair demands transparency about post-Roe emergency health care at hospitals

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today pressed eight hospitals in states with abortion bans for more information following news reports that the hospitals delayed and denied women emergency reproductive health care in potential violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).

Passed into law in 1986, EMTALA guarantees that anyone entering the emergency room at a hospital that receives Medicare funding will get the stabilizing medical care they need, reproductive or otherwise. After the far-right Supreme Court gutted constitutional protections for reproductive health care guaranteed under Roe v. Wade, nearly half of all states implemented abortion bans or restrictive abortion laws, many of which are preempted by and may break federal law under EMTALA. 

In letters to Ascension Seton Edgar B. Davis (Texas), Baton Rouge General (La.), Falls Community Hospital & Clinic (Texas), Freeman Health System (Mo.), Holmes Regional Medical Center (Fla.), Person Memorial Hospital (N.C.), Piedmont Henry Hospital (Ga.), and Women’s Hospital (La.), Wyden underscored, “Across the country, there are reports that women are being turned away by emergency departments when they seek emergency reproductive health care, even in instances where medical professionals determine that, without such care, the patient is at risk of serious complications, infection, or even death. These women are caught between dangerous state laws that are in clear conflict with – and preempted by – EMTALA.”

The overturn of Roe and subsequent state abortion bans have left women without the care they need, and providers wondering if they will be targeted or jailed for providing that care. Last week, ProPublica reported that a pregnant woman died at a Georgia hospital after being denied the care she needed. 

This news follows a pattern of countless other women dying, losing their ability to bear future children, or facing serious medical complications after being denied emergency abortion care after the overturn of Roe, violating their right to emergency health care as granted under EMTALA. 

Wyden continued, “Post Dobbs, it is essential that pregnant patients and their families have the peace of mind that they will be able to receive the necessary, stabilizing care they need and providers are able to deliver appropriate emergency care without fear of personal or professional liability.”

Wyden is requesting the hospitals provide further details on the existing policies and procedures in place to ensure women get the care they need and deserve and that all patients understand their rights under EMTALA. Wyden is also requesting an accounting of the legal and human resource support offered to emergency room personnel who find themselves caught between their medical care obligations and restrictive state abortion bans. 

The calls for transparency come ahead of tomorrow’s historic Senate Finance Committee hearing to examine ongoing threats to reproductive health care. It will be the first time in its history that the Committee will meet to discuss reproductive care.

To ensure the hospitals are complying with EMTALA, Wyden is requesting answers to the following questions about their facilities’ policies and procedures:

  1. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations require Medicare-participating hospitals to post signage outlining patients’ rights under EMTALA in the emergency department and other areas where patients may be examined or treated or wait to be examined or treated, for emergency medical conditions. Please provide a copy of the signage your hospital displays to meet the CMS EMTALA signage requirements. Please note whether any changes have been made to this signage since June 24, 2022. 

  2. Please provide a copy of any additional written information (e.g., signage, pamphlets, Frequently Asked Questions documents, forms) your hospital displays or uses to inform and educate patients about their rights under EMTALA. 

  3. Please provide a copy of any written information or oral communication (e.g., a staff presentation, memorandum, or webinar) distributed to staff regarding hospital protocols, standards of care, or changes in procedures related to state abortion laws. 

  4. What is the process that occurs when a pregnant patient presents at the emergency department seeking emergency health care for scenarios when an abortion would be the appropriate course of treatment (e.g., a pre-viability preterm rupture of membranes, an ectopic pregnancy, or a molar pregnancy)? Please list all steps and all personnel involved in these patient care decisions.  

  5. Please describe any and all procedures your hospital has in place to evaluate whether a pregnant patient is suffering an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA.  

    1. Please note any changes that have been made to these procedures since June 24, 2022. 

    2. Please note whether any pregnant patients have (i) experienced any delays in care, (ii) been denied care, (iii) failed to have appropriate medical stabilization offered, or (iv) failed to have a consult or be referred to appropriate specialty services.

  1. Section 501(r)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code requires that all hospitals treated as tax-exempt 501(c)(3) entities must establish a written emergency medical care policy. Please provide a copy of [NAME OF HOSPITAL] written emergency medical care policy. 

  2. When emergency room personnel perceive a conflict between the emergency standard of care required under EMTALA and the constraints of the operating state abortion ban, what legal and human resource support are offered by [NAME OF HOSPITAL]?

    1. Please describe the timeliness of these legal and human resource supports.

    2. Please share any written information or oral communication distributed to staff related to the available legal and human resource supports available in these circumstances.

The full letter can be found here.

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