O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 31-8-42 (2019)

Requirement of hospitals with emergency services to provide care to pregnant women in labor

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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Any hospital which operates an emergency service shall be required to provide the appropriate, necessary emergency services to any pregnant woman who is a resident of this state and who presents herself in active labor to the hospital, if those services are usually and customarily provided in that facility, which services shall be provided within the scope of generally accepted practice based upon the information furnished the hospital by the pregnant woman, including such information as the pregnant woman reveals concerning her prenatal care, diet, allergies, previous births, general health information, and other such information as the pregnant woman may furnish the hospital. If, in the medical judgment of the physician responsible for the emergency service, the hospital must transfer the patient because the hospital is unable to provide appropriate treatment, the hospital where the patient has presented herself shall:

(1) Within the capabilities of the hospital provide such emergency services as the circumstances require, which services shall be provided within the scope of generally accepted practice based upon the information furnished the hospital by the pregnant woman, including such information as the pregnant woman reveals concerning her prenatal care, diet, allergies, previous births, general health information, and other such information as the pregnant woman may furnish the hospital;

(2) Contact an appropriate receiving hospital and notify such hospital that the patient is in transit;

(3) Arrange suitable transportation for the patient if necessary; and

(4) Send to the receiving hospital any available information on the patient’s history and condition. The transfer shall not be authorized until the physician considers the patient sufficiently stabilized for transport.

History

Code 1981, § 31-8-42, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1389, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 829, § 3.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Cited in Terrell County v. Albany/ Dougherty Hosp. Auth., 256 Ga. 627, 352 S.E.2d 378 (1987).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1987–2010 · leading case: Gliemmo v. Cousineau, 694 S.E.2d 75 (Ga. 2010).
Gliemmo v. Cousineau, 694 S.E.2d 75 (Ga. 2010). · cites it 4× “In that case, in which the Albany/Dougherty County Hospital Authority sought payment from Terrell County for services rendered to indigent pregnant residents of Terrell County, Terrell County challenged the constitutionality of certain statutory provisions, OCGA §§ 31-8-42 and…”
Terrell Cnty. v. Albany/Dougherty Hosp. Auth., 352 S.E.2d 378 (Ga. 1987). · cites it 4× “OCGA § 31-8-42 requires certain hospitals to provide emergency care to pregnant women in labor and the Albany/Dougherty Hospital falls in that group.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.