Florida Statute 401.45 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XXIX
PUBLIC HEALTH

Chapter 401
MEDICAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORTATION

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401.45 Denial of emergency treatment; civil liability.—

(1)(a) Except as provided in subsection (3), a person may not be denied needed prehospital treatment or transport from any licensee for an emergency medical condition.

(b) A person may not be denied treatment for any emergency medical condition that will deteriorate from a failure to provide such treatment at any general hospital licensed under chapter 395 or at any specialty hospital that has an emergency room.

(2) A hospital or its employees or any physician or dentist responding to an apparent need for emergency treatment under this section is not liable in any action arising out of a refusal to render emergency treatment or care if reasonable care is exercised in determining the condition of the person and in determining the appropriateness of the facilities and the qualifications and availability of personnel to render such treatment.

(3)(a) Resuscitation may be withheld or withdrawn from a patient by an emergency medical technician or paramedic if evidence of an order not to resuscitate by the patient’s physician or physician assistant is presented to the emergency medical technician or paramedic. An order not to resuscitate, to be valid, must be on the form adopted by rule of the department. The form must be signed by the patient’s physician or physician assistant and by the patient or, if the patient is incapacitated, the patient’s health care surrogate or proxy as provided in chapter 765, court-appointed guardian as provided in chapter 744, or attorney in fact under a durable power of attorney as provided in chapter 709. The court-appointed guardian or attorney in fact must have been delegated authority to make health care decisions on behalf of the patient.

(b) Any licensee, physician, medical director, or emergency medical technician or paramedic who acts under the direction of a medical director is not subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability, and has not engaged in negligent or unprofessional conduct, as a result of the withholding or withdrawal of resuscitation from a patient pursuant to this subsection and rules adopted by the department.

(c) The department, in consultation with the Department of Elderly Affairs and the Agency for Health Care Administration, shall develop a standardized do-not-resuscitate identification system with devices that signify, when carried or worn, that the possessor is a patient for whom a physician or physician assistant has issued an order not to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The department may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of producing and distributing such identification devices. Use of such devices shall be voluntary.

(4) Any licensee or emergency medical technician or paramedic who in good faith provides emergency medical care or treatment within the scope of employment and pursuant to oral or written instructions of a medical director shall be deemed to be providing emergency medical care or treatment for the purposes of s. 768.13(2)(b).

(5) The department shall adopt and enforce all rules necessary to implement this section.

History.—s. 26, ch. 73-126; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 1, ch. 77-457; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 24, 25, 27, ch. 82-402; s. 13, ch. 83-196; ss. 26, 36, ch. 92-78; s. 8, ch. 99-331; s. 5, ch. 2000-295; s. 27, ch. 2021-51; s. 5, ch. 2021-204.

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Amendments to 401.45

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 401.45

Total Results: 8 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Turner Ex Rel. Turner v. United States, 514 F.3d 1194 (11th Cir. 2008).

Cited 73 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782, 2008 WL 215210

...§ 768.13(2)(b)1 (2000). In 2003, the GSA was amended to apply to “[a]ny health care provider, including a hospital licensed under chapter 395, providing emergency services pursuant to obligations imposed by 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd, § 395.1041, § 395.401, or § 401.45 ....

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Baker Cnty. Med. Servs., Inc. v. U.S. Attorney Gen., 763 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2014).

Cited 10 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 2014 WL 3954005, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 15568

...In addition, “[a] person may not be denied treatment for any emergency medical condition that will deteriorate from a failure to provide such treatment at any general hospital licensed under [C]hapter 395 [of the Florida Statutes] . . . .” Fla. Stat. § 401.45(1)(b). B Neither Medicare nor EMTALA establishes the reimbursement rate for emergency services provided to federal detainees....

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Hosp. Bd. of Directors of Lee Cty. v. Durkis, 426 So. 2d 50 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982).

Cited 6 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal

...hospital for care of his prisoners. However, lack of such an arrangement is not fatal to the hospital recovering for the services it renders. Here, Lansing needed emergency medical care and the hospital was not in a position to deny such treatment. § 401.45, Fla....

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Venice HMA, LLC v. Sarasota Cnty., 198 So. 3d 23 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015).

Cited 2 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2015 WL 4771934

...must do so. Florida requires all hospitals with emergency departments to provide emergency care when "[a]ny person requests emergency services and care," regardless of ability to pay. § 395.1041(1), (3)(a)(1), (3)(f), Fla. Stat. (2012). See also § 401.45(1)(b), Fla....

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Dade Cnty. v. Am. Hosp. of Miami, Inc., 502 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 1987).

Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 48, 1987 Fla. LEXIS 1376

...Jackson Memorial accepts most indigent patients, but transfer requests occasionally exceed Jackson Memorial's capacity and some indigent transfers are postponed or denied. American Hospital, as a private hospital operating an emergency room, fulfills the statutory duty of rendering emergency medical care to any person. § 401.45, Fla....

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Baker Cnty. Med. Servs., Inc. v. U.S. Attorney Gen. (11th Cir. 2014).

Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

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Dade Cnty. v. Am. Hosp. of Miami, Inc., 463 So. 2d 232 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1984).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 520, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 12565

...Plaintiff bears no legal duty or financial responsibility to provide medical care for indigents, except to provide treatment for any emergency medical condition of indigents brought to the emergency room of the plaintiff hospital, as prescribed by § 395.0143, Fla. Stat. (Supp.1982), and § 401.45(1), Fla.Stat....

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City of Fort Myers v. Hosp. Bd. of Directors, 505 So. 2d 590 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1987).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1011, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 7645

...for summary judgment. This timely appeal by the city followed. A review of the allegations of the amended complaint indicates that the treatment and services provided by the hospital were of the type the hospital was required to provide pursuant to section 401.45, Florida Statutes (1981)....

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