Does U.S. health care law protect emergency abortion? Here’s what to know
Global News
The U.S. Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act went into effect in 1986 and was aimed at making sure people could get emergency care regardless of their ability to pay.
The Biden administration has filed its first legal challenge to a state abortion ban since the end of Roe v. Wade, arguing Idaho’s restrictive abortion law leaves doctors facing criminal penalties for providing abortion-related medical care to women in life-threatening medical situations.
The U.S. Justice Department may have a strong argument in the Idaho case filed under federal health care law, but even if they win it wouldn’t allow full access to abortion there, legal experts said. It could, though, give doctors more latitude to provide an abortion in an emergency or a situation that could become one.
But Texas is already pushing back with another lawsuit over the same federal statute, arguing federal health-care law doesn’t allow for abortion-related care banned under state law.
Here’s a look at how the dueling cases could affect the fraught medical and legal landscape after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion:
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, went into effect in 1986 and was aimed at making sure people could get emergency care regardless of their ability to pay. It’s been at the center of court battles before.
In the 1992 case of “Baby K,” for example, a court sided with parents who said the federal law required a hospital to keep treating a baby born without a cerebral cortex, even though doctors said it would be medically futile and cited a state law in support, said Lindsay Wiley, a law professor and director of the Health Law and Policy Program at UCLA Law.
Hospitals that violate the emergency treatment act could lose access to payments from Medicare, a major blow.
The Idaho lawsuit comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued similar guidance, saying hospitals must provide abortion services in emergencies or situations that could become emergencies.
B.C. health authorities have announced the first case of a human avian flu infection acquired in Canada, with the teenage patient in critical condition in hospital.
People have been hearing a lot about H5N1 bird flu — or highly pathogenic avian influenza — since a B.C. teen became the first human to get the virus in Canada and is in hospital.
The Liberal government and the NDP negotiated the substance of a pharmacare bill as part of their now-defunct supply-and-confidence agreement.
Kennedy ran as an independent presidential candidate but gave Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the next Trump administration.
Emergency services are at the scene of a train derailment Thursday morning on Montreal's south shore, where they are urging citizens to stay away from the area.
"I was yelling at them saying get the F** away it’s a wild animal," resident Josh Merrin told Global News. "Sorry about my language."
H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows, with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers.
The Calgary Zoo announced that one of its lowland gorillas unexpectedly passed away on November 12, 2024.
Edmontonians have had mixed feelings and now the city is asking people to share their thoughts officially. The findings of a survey could bring some changes.
Dr. Anna Wolak, a family physician in Vancouver, said many parents are likely having flashbacks to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite this flu being a single case.
WHO acknowledged that testing for mpox is still not widespread, making it difficult to understand how exactly the virus is spreading.