ETHICS OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT TRIAGE - SAEM POSITION STATEMENT

Emergency department overcrowding, the growth of managed care, and the high cost of emergency care are creating pressures to triage patients away from U.S. EDs. Paradoxically, this pressure to limit patient acc ess to EDs has increased in spite of federal laws that restrict patien t triage and transfer. The latter regulations view EDs as the safety n et for the U.S. health care system. The SAEM Ethics Committee evaluate d the ethical implications of policies that triage patients out of the ED prior to complete evaluation and treatment. The committee used the se implications to develop practical guidelines, which are reported.