Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

Imagine you're a kid playing outside and you fall down and hurt yourself really badly. Your mom or dad might take you to the hospital to get help from a doctor. Even if your family doesn’t have a lot of money, the hospital has to take care of you and give you the help you need to feel better. This is because of something called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA for short.

EMTALA is a law that makes sure everyone, even if they don’t have money or insurance, gets the care they need if they have a serious medical problem. Hospitals and doctors have to help anyone who comes to them and is very sick or hurt, no matter how much money they have.

This law is especially important for pregnant women who are in labor, which means their baby is about to be born. Even if a woman doesn't have any money or insurance, the hospital has to help her give birth safely to her baby. The hospital has to make sure both the mom and baby are healthy before they go home.

EMTALA makes sure that everyone gets the treatment they need, no matter how rich or poor they are, or what language they speak. It's like magic, but it's actually a law!