Ortiz-Lopez v. Sociedad Espanola De Auxilio Mutuo

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APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO [Hon. Juan M. P�rez-Gim�nez, U.S. District Judge]

Plaintiffs sued Sociedad Espa�ola de Auxilio Mutuo Y Beneficencia de Puerto Rico (hereinafter the “hospital”) in the district court under, inter alia, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), the “anti-dumping statute.” *fn1 EMTALA requires the hospital to “appropriately screen” and “stabilize” the patient before transferring her to another facility. See 42 U.S.C.A. � 1395dd(a) and (b). Plaintiffs are the family of deceased Rosa Rivera, who died after succumbing to an allegedly self- inflicted overdose of painkillers after arriving at the emergency room of the hospital. Plaintiffs allege in their complaint that the way Rivera was treated by defendant’s staff fell short of EMTALA’s requirements.

Plaintiffs, however, never reached trial on their EMTALA claim. On the day scheduled for trial, the court found that plaintiffs had committed serious discovery abuses by withholding information they were required to furnish, including information relative to their proposed expert witness. As a sanction, the court ruled that plaintiffs’ expert witness would not be allowed to testify. Thereafter, it granted defendant’s motion to dismiss *fn2 , concluding that plaintiffs could not prove their EMTALA claim without the excluded evidence. This appeal followed.

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