Deniz Vargas, a Minor by and Through Her Mother Anita Gallardo v. Del Puerto Hospital Burton B. Butler Patterson District Ambulance

We examine in this appeal the certification requirements of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTA-LA”), 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd. Specifically, we must decide if a hospital is hable for damages when it permits an unstable patient to be transferred but fails to comply fully with the Act’s requirement that a physician include in the transfer certificate a written summary of the specific risks to the patient of effecting the transfer. The district court permitted evidence demonstrating that the hospital complied with the substantive requirements of the Act and refused to premise EMTALA liability on the hospital’s failure to comply strictly with the certification requirement. We conclude that the district court’s assessment of the evidence and its conclusions of law are sound. Accordingly, we affirm.

I.

On May 22, 1993, Deniz Vargas, an 18-month old infant, was brought by her mother to Del Puerto Hospital’s emergency room. Del Puerto is a small, rural hospital in Patterson, California. Its emergency room is staffed by one doctor and one registered nurse per shift. Dr. Burton Butler was the physician on duty when Vargas was admitted. Dr. Butler evaluated Vargas and…