South Carolina's Trident Health System Settles EMTALA Case Involving Patient Dumping Allegations

Effective November 17, 2014, Trident Health System (Trident) in South Carolina entered into a settlement agreement with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to resolve claims that it failed to provide stabilizing treatment to a patient in one of its emergency rooms. Specifically, OIG alleged that on February 12, 2012, a 58-year-old male patient, who was incarcerated at the time, was transported by an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) ambulance to Moncks Corner Medical Center, a Trident facility. EMS contacted emergency room personnel to inform them of the patient's transport but, when the patient arrived at the emergency room, a nurse informed EMS personnel that the medical center could not treat the patient because Trident had a "no trespass" order on him. EMS then took the patient to a nearby hospital, and Trident never provided a medical screening examination of the patient. This $40,000 settlement resolves Trident's civil monetary penalties liability under the patient dumping statute.

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