ER Turned Away Patient, He Died

On September 15th, 2019, a man walked into an ER for help, and they turned

him away. Three hours later, he was dead. Michael Thompson, 47,

came in with severe chest pain. But when the nurse saw his insurance card,

she told him to go to another hospital twenty miles away. So he drove himself. Halfway there,

witnesses found him slumped over the wheel. Massive heart attack. In court,

experts said he had a 90% chance of surviving if the first ER treated him.

Instead, the hospital violated federal EMTALA law, which requires ERs to help anyone,

insurance or not. His family won $1.5 million, but his wife said no amount could