ABA Family Legal Guide

Health-Care Law

Patients' Rights

Emergency Care

Is it ever a good idea for a hospital to transfer a patient?

The hospital may transfer the patient if:

• the patient requests the transfer in writing; or
• the doctor certifies that the benefits of transferring the patient outweigh the risks.

There are times when transferring a patient is simply the best possible course of treatment—for example, if the problem is unique or if another facility would handle the problem better. In one case, a new mother collapsed in the emergency room of a children's hospital where her newborn was being treated. The pediatric staff got the woman onto a bed and started an IV. The woman's life was in no immediate danger, so the doctors, all pediatricians, had the woman taken by ambulance to a hospital a block away where she could be seen by doctors who regularly treat adults. The woman agreed to the transfer. She received emergency care, and returned to the children's hospital to be with her child after doctors determined she was well enough to do so.