(a)  Every healthcare facility that has an emergency medical-care unit, including freestanding emergency-care facilities, shall provide to every person prompt, life-saving, medical-care treatment in an emergency, and a sexual-assault examination for victims of sexual assault, without discrimination on account of economic status or source of payment, and without delaying treatment for the purpose of a prior discussion of the source of payment unless the delay can be imposed without material risk to the health of the person.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-26

  • Director: means the director of the Rhode Island state department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
  • Healthcare facility: means any institutional health-service provider, facility, or institution, place, building, agency, or portion thereof, whether a partnership or corporation, whether public or private, whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or engaged in providing healthcare services, including, but not limited to: hospitals; nursing facilities; home nursing-care provider (which shall include skilled nursing services and may also include activities allowed as a home-care provider or as a nursing service agency); home-care provider (which may include services such as personal care or homemaker services); rehabilitation centers; kidney disease treatment centers; health maintenance organizations; freestanding emergency-care facilities as defined in this section, and facilities providing surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization (surgi-centers); hospice care, and physician ambulatory-surgery centers and podiatry ambulatory-surgery centers providing surgical treatment. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
  • Person: means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies, and insurance companies), state, or political subdivision or instrumentality of a state. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2

(b)  Violations of this section shall be reported to the director of the state department of health who shall investigate the violations as the director deems appropriate.

History of Section.
P.L. 1980, ch. 87, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 120, § 1; P.L. 2016, ch. 417, § 1; P.L. 2016, ch. 418, § 1.