When Turning You Away from the ER Becomes Malpractice

Gregg Hollander | November 4, 2026 | Medical Malpractice

Being sent away from the ER can leave you unsure whether to trust the discharge decision or your own worsening symptoms. When a later diagnosis reveals that you needed immediate treatment, you may be facing lasting harm as well as questions about why nobody intervened. Can the ER turn you away when you need emergency care?


Hollander Law Firm brings over 30 years of experience and the resources to investigate beyond a hospital’s explanation of what happened. Working with qualified medical professionals, we examine whether sending you away was medically justified and whether timely treatment would likely have prevented the harm. From the start, we prepare each case for trial, keeping you informed throughout the process and pursuing compensation that accounts for the lasting effects on your life.

Call (561) 347-7770 or contact us online and learn about your legal options today.

Can an ER Refuse Treatment?

An ER generally cannot refuse an appropriate screening examination, and a hospital that identifies an emergency condition must provide stabilizing care within its capabilities or arrange an appropriate transfer. The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, known as EMTALA, imposes these duties on Medicare-participating hospitals with emergency departments, which are most of them. Florida’s hospital-access law also requires covered hospitals to provide emergency care without discrimination based on ability to pay.

The Hospital Must Evaluate Your Condition

When you come to a covered ER seeking care, the hospital must provide a medical screening examination to determine whether you have an emergency medical condition. Qualified medical staff must conduct that examination, using the ER’s available testing and other services as needed.

An emergency can involve severe pain or other serious symptoms that, without immediate treatment, could put your health at serious risk or impair an organ or bodily function. Serious psychiatric symptoms can also qualify.

Even when your complaint appears nonurgent, the hospital must provide an appropriate screening before deciding that you do not need emergency care.

Payment Cannot Come Before Emergency Care

Can a hospital refuse emergency treatment because you are uninsured or cannot pay a deposit? A covered ER cannot use either reason to deny required screening or stabilizing treatment. Staff may collect insurance information, but that process cannot delay your care.

These protections also apply regardless of the following:

  • Race,
  • National origin,
  • Sex,
  • Religion,
  • Disability,
  • Age, or
  • Citizenship.

And you do not need to receive Medicare benefits yourself to be protected from discrimination. However, emergency-care protections do not make treatment free. The hospital may bill you afterward.

A Full Waiting Room Does Not Automatically Justify Refusal

Can the ER turn you away because the waiting room is full? A busy ER may treat patients with more urgent conditions before you, so you may have to wait. But a full waiting room does not allow the hospital to send you away without an appropriate medical screening examination.

When a hospital lacks the staff or facilities to accept additional emergency patients, it may direct incoming ambulances to another hospital before they arrive. This is called ambulance diversion. However, once you arrive at the ER seeking care, whether by ambulance or on your own, the hospital must still examine you.

When Is Refusing Treatment Considered Medical Malpractice?

An ER’s decision to send you away does not automatically mean the hospital or its staff committed malpractice. The key questions are whether the care you received met the applicable legal standard, whether a provider’s failure to act caused preventable harm, and whether Florida law imposes a special liability standard under the circumstances.

A Florida claim generally requires proof of four elements:

  • Duty of care. The hospital or clinician had a legal responsibility to provide appropriate evaluation or treatment under the circumstances. Those responsibilities depend on the provider’s role and the circumstances of your visit.
  • Breach of the applicable standard of care. You must show that the provider’s actions or omissions fell below the prevailing professional standard of care. For example, the evidence might show that staff failed to recognize concerning symptoms, did not perform an appropriate evaluation, or discharged you without addressing a condition that required further care.
  • Causation. You must connect the provider’s breach to the injury you suffered.A later diagnosis or worsening condition alone does not setablish that the ER’s decision caused additional harm. You need medical evidence to support the connection between the substandard care and the medical outcome.
  • Damages. You must show that you suffered harm caused by the breach. This may include additional medical bills, future treatment expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and reduced ability to enjoy your life.

In malpractice cases, Florida generally requires an injury victim to prove a breach of the prevailing professional standard of care and that the breach proximately caused the injury. However, state law provides a heightened liability standard for certain health care providers furnishing emergency services under obligations imposed by federal or state law. Under the Good Samaritan Act, a provider covered by this provision generally cannot be held liable for civil damages arising from that emergency care unless the care—or failure to provide care—demonstrated reckless disregard for the consequences so as to affect another person’s life or health. The statute defines reckless disregard as conduct creating an unreasonable risk of injury that is substantially greater than the risk necessary to constitute ordinary negligence.

This protection applies only within the circumstances and time period specified by the statute, including certain care and diagnosis before a patient is stabilized and care related to the original emergency. It does not mean that every decision made in an ER is automatically subject to the same heightened standard. Whether the provision applies depends on the provider, the emergency services involved, and the circumstances of the claim.

At The Hollander Law Firm, we examine the medical decisions in the order they occurred. Comparing your reported symptoms, vital signs, test results, and discharge decision helps us assess whether the need for further care should have been recognized before you left. The review must focus on what providers knew or should reasonably have discovered at the time, rather than judging the visit solely by a later diagnosis.

Importantly, proving that care was inadequate is different from proving that adequate care would have changed the outcome. Under Florida law, the evidence must show that timely, appropriate treatment would more likely than not have prevented or reduced the harm you suffered. Showing only that earlier treatment might have helped is not enough.

That is why our investigation addresses both questions:

  • What should the ER have done?
  • What would timely care likely have accomplished for you?

Working with qualified medical professionals, we evaluate the available treatment and the progression of your condition to determine whether the evidence supports holding a provider responsible.

FAQs

Can a Hospital Refuse Emergency Treatment?

Generally, no. Most hospitals accept Medicare, so their emergency departments must follow EMTALA, which requires an appropriate medical screening when you seek emergency care. If the examination identifies an emergency condition, the hospital must provide stabilizing treatment or arrange an appropriate transfer.

It is illegal for a covered ER to deny that care because you lack insurance or cannot pay.

However, these protections do not make emergency care free, so you may still receive a bill afterward.

Are Doctors Required to Help in an Emergency?

Yes, doctors responsible for your care in the ER have a legal duty to provide necessary emergency evaluation and treatment within the hospital’s capabilities. You do not have to be an established patient of that doctor to receive emergency care.

That responsibility can also extend to an on-call specialist who may be needed to treat your condition. Florida law requires on-call physicians to respond within a reasonable time after being notified, and your inability to pay is not a valid reason to withhold necessary emergency care.

What Should I Do If an ER Turns Me Away?

Seek medical attention promptly if you still have symptoms suggesting an emergency, and call 911 for severe or rapidly worsening symptoms. Once your immediate care is addressed, retain the discharge paperwork and details of the refusal, including who was present and what explanation you received.

You can submit a hospital complaint to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration or report a suspected EMTALA violation through the federal complaint process. A regulatory complaint is not a lawsuit for compensation and should not delay your discussion of filing deadlines with an attorney.

Is It Malpractice for an ER to Discharge or Transfer Me?

Not necessarily. A Florida ER may discharge you after an appropriate evaluation finds no emergency condition or after treatment stabilizes you enough to leave safely.

A transfer may be appropriate when another facility has resources you need, such as the specialized trauma care available at Palm Beach County’s two Level I trauma centers: St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach and Delray Medical Center.

If you are still unstable, the transfer generally requires a physician’s documented finding that the medical benefits outweigh the risks, or your informed written request. The hospital must also provide available treatment to reduce transfer risks, confirm that the receiving hospital will accept you, send relevant records, and arrange medically appropriate transportation—not simply tell you to find another ER.

How Long Do I Have to File a Claim in Florida?

You generally have two years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Florida, starting when the incident occurred or when you knew or reasonably should have known of your injury. A separate four-year limit generally runs from the date of the malpractice, even if you discover the harm later. Certain exceptions can extend these deadlines.

Missing the applicable deadline can lead to dismissal of your case, preventing you from recovering compensation through that lawsuit even when strong evidence supports your claim.

Ask Hollander Law Firm to Investigate the Care You Were Denied

Can an ER refuse treatment under the circumstances you experienced? At Hollander Law Firm, we evaluate the decision, whether it caused preventable harm, and what that harm means for your future.

Your family deserves clear answers about its legal options without having to navigate hospital responses and insurance discussions alone. Contact our offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach for a free consultation. We will listen to what happened and explain the next steps for investigating the care you were denied.

Get started with a free consultation by calling (561) 347-7770 or reaching out to us online today.

Legal References Used to Inform This Page

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