CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center - Bergan Mercy Agreed to Pay $60,000 for Allegedly Violating Patient Dumping Statute by Failing to Provide an Appropriate Medical Screening Examination and Stabilizing Treatment

On June 23, 2023, CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center - Bergan Mercy (CUMC), Omaha, Nebraska, entered into a $60,000 settlement agreement with OIG. The settlement agreement resolves allegations that, based on OIG’s investigation, CUMC violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) when it failed to provide an appropriate medical screening examination and stabilizing treatment to a patient. On September 10, 2017, patient T.M., a 32-year-old male with a history of anxiety and bipolar disorder, presented by ambulance to CUMC’s Emergency Department (ED) at 11:27 a.m. with altered mental status. T.M. was accompanied by law enforcement who found T.M. wandering on a nearby college campus where T.M. was knocking property over, attempting to light property on fire, and was walking around with a steering wheel from a car pretending to be driving. T.M.’s speech was incoherent, he appeared and smelled poorly kempt and unclean, and he arrived at the ED in wet clothes. ED staff ordered urine and blood toxicology tests for T.M., which returned negative for alcohol and drug intoxication. After yelling and making threatening gestures at ED staff, T.M. was handcuffed to his hospital bed. An ED physician ordered Haldol and Ativan for T.M. for sedation and instructed that T.M. be discharged when able to ambulate. At 8:02 p.m., T.M. was discharged with a diagnosis of altered mental status and mental health disorder and was instructed to follow-up with a mental health professional. At the time of discharge, T.M. was still suffering from an emergency medical condition. CUMC failed to provide T.M. with an appropriate medical screening examination and stabilizing treatment within the capabilities of CUMC prior to discharging T.M. Senior Counsel Tessa Devereaux represented OIG.

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