This IS a tough one folks….
Most hospital’s get Federal money….
So?
Federal law’s apply to them….
What do Doctors and Hospitals on the ground do with the State pushing one way and Feds possibly pushing the other?
And some state WOULD probably go after provider’s not caring what the Feds would do….
Remember…
This Supreme Court tends to come doen on the states side on things….
[ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, ] CMS has not announced any fines or other penalties against the two hospitals in its investigation, but it did send them notices warning that they were in violation of the law and asking them to correct the problems that led to Farmer being turned away. Federal Medicare investigators will follow up with the hospitals before closing the case.
That likely won’t be enough to convince hospitals and doctors that they should provide abortions in states where they’re operating under the threat of prison time or large fines if they terminate a pregnancy, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis.
“I don’t know how much this approach really helps matters. The possibility of being criminalized for providing care is still there for a lot of these doctors,” Ziegler said. “The incentive here would be to do nothing. The incentive here would be to turn the patient away.”
Nationwide, doctors have reported uncertainty around how to provide care to pregnant women, especially in the nearly 20 states where new laws have banned or limited the care. Doctors face criminal and civil penaltiesin some states for aborting a pregnancy.
But in a letter sent Monday to hospital and doctors’ associations that highlights the inquiries, [HHS Sec] Becerra said he hopes the investigations clarify that the organizations must follow the federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA.
“While many state laws have recently changed,” Becerra wrote, “it’s important to know that the federal EMTALA requirements have not changed, and continue to require that health care professionals offer treatment, including abortion care, that the provider reasonably determines is necessary to stabilize the patient’s emergency medical condition.”