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. (a) Emergency services and care shall be provided to any
person requesting the services or care, or for whom services or care
is requested, for any condition in which the person is in danger of
loss of life, or serious injury or illness, at any health facility
licensed under this chapter that maintains and operates an emergency
department to provide emergency services to the public when the
health facility has appropriate facilities and qualified personnel
available to provide the services or care.
(b) In no event shall the provision of emergency services and care
be based upon, or affected by, the person's ethnicity, citizenship,
age, preexisting medical condition, insurance status, economic
status, ability to pay for medical services, or any other
characteristic listed or defined in subdivision (b) or (e) of Section
51 of the Civil Code, except to the extent that a circumstance such
as age, sex, preexisting medical condition, or physical or mental
disability is medically significant to the provision of appropriate
medical care to the patient.
(c) Neither the health facility, its employees, nor any physician
and surgeon, dentist, clinical psychologist, or podiatrist shall be
liable in any action arising out of a refusal to render emergency
services or care if the refusal is based on the determination,
exercising reasonable care, that the person is not suffering from an
emergency medical condition, or that the health facility does not
have the appropriate facilities or qualified personnel available to
render those services.
(d) Emergency services and care shall be rendered without first
questioning the patient or any other person as to his or her ability
to pay therefor. However, the patient or his or her legally
responsible relative or guardian shall execute an agreement to pay
therefor or otherwise supply insurance or credit information promptly
after the services are rendered.
(e) If a health facility subject to this chapter does not maintain
an emergency department, its employees shall nevertheless exercise
reasonable care to determine whether an emergency exists and shall
direct the persons seeking emergency care to a nearby facility that
can render the needed services, and shall assist the persons seeking
emergency care in obtaining the services, including transportation
services, in every way reasonable under the circumstances.
(f) No act or omission of any rescue team established by any
health facility licensed under this chapter, or operated by the
federal or state government, a county, or by the Regents of the
University of California, done or omitted while attempting to
resuscitate any person who is in immediate danger of loss of life
shall impose any liability upon the health facility, the officers,
members of the staff, nurses, or employees of the health facility,
including, but not limited to, the members of the rescue team, or
upon the federal or state government or a county, if good faith is
exercised.
(g) "Rescue team," as used in this section, means a special group
of physicians and surgeons, nurses, and employees of a health
facility who have been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and
have been designated by the health facility to attempt, in cases of
emergency, to resuscitate persons who are in immediate danger of loss
of life.
(h) This section shall not relieve a health facility of any duty
otherwise imposed by law upon the health facility for the designation
and training of members of a rescue team or for the provision or
maintenance of equipment to be used by a rescue team.