The federal government is being sued by the Sioux tribe because it has failed to provide emergency health care to the local residents. There was an emergency room that was shut down by claiming that it put the lives of people at risk. The only other emergency room is 50 miles away which is causing problems for the residents.
How Federal Government Was Involved?
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The responsibility of managing the ER was with a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, named as Indian Health Service (IHS).
The Reason Behind the Closure
Though IHS claims that the closure was done because of limited resources and staffing changes, it is clear that the closure was done because IHS failed to maintain the ER properly.
The Plans
IHS also plans to privatize the entire hospital along with several other reservation hospitals situated at South Dakota and Nebraska.
Lawsuit Details
The lawsuit filed by the tribe states that IHS failed to comply with the Indian Health Care Improvement Act by not evaluating the impact of the closure of the ER. The impact needs to be evaluated at least one year before closing off the facility and it was not done.
Evaluation Requirements
The evaluation should have included the fact that there is barely accessibility to an alternative health care resources for the local residents. The evaluation should also include the cost effectiveness of closing such a service, the feelings of the local community about the closure as well as the quality of care provided after the closure.
The need of the Sioux tribe for the ER facility can be judged by the fact that about 35,000 people visited the 35-bed facility in the last fiscal year only.
The Current Scenario
Now, the patients need to travel 50 miles to Winner, South Dakota to get emergency medical service. In some cases, they need to visit an out-of-state hospital in Valentine, Nebraska too.
The lawsuit mentions that five patients died due to the current scenario and two babies were born in the ambulances that were on the way to the hospital just after a few weeks since the ER was closed. These facts certainly give the Sioux tribe an edge over the federal government.
