Under a new bill in California, introduced by Sen. Richard Pan, MD, (D-Sacramento), hospitals would be required to treat severely intoxicated patients in the ER before having them arrested, according to a San Jose Mercury News report.
Sen. Pan, a pediatrician, introduced the legislation in response to claims some hospitals in the state are failing to make sure intoxicated patients are medically stabilized before calling law enforcement to arrest them. He told the Mercury News the practice of "dumping" drunken patients in jail is a practice commonly used by Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services.
"It goes against everything we stand for in healthcare, and it has to stop," said Sen. Pan.
Under the legislation, if a hospital failed to ensure a severely intoxicated patient was stabilized before calling law enforcement the hospital would face a fine of up to $300,000 per incident, according to the report.
In making the case for the legislation, Sen. Pan compared the number of 911 calls made per month from Prime Healthcare's Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif., to the number of 911 calls made per month from another comparably sized hospital in the area affiliated with another system. The comparison revealed the number of calls from Shasta Regional was nearly seven times greater.
However, opponents of the bill argue the data Sen. Pan cited was flawed because it didn't indicate how many of the emergency calls were made due to severely intoxicated patients, according to the report.
A Prime Healthcare spokesman, Ed Barerra, told the Mercury News no Prime Healthcare hospital "has ever contacted police dispatch about a patient solely because he or she is intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. Patients are given appropriate and complete care in all of Prime Healthcare's emergency departments. Police departments are called only when mandated or necessary."
The California Hospital Association hasn't taken a position on the legislation.
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