Centerpoint hospital vs St Luke's East - is a transfer possible? (transfer to, lawsuit)

[AnnMBC]

A relative of mine had a heart attack and the ambulance drivers refused to take him to St. Luke's East where his cardiologist is and took him to Centerpoint instead, where his cardiologist does not have privileges. We are not fans of Centerpoint in general. Is it possible to transfer to St. Luke's East? If so, what kind of stats would he need to have to be eligible to transfer. I'm assuming that there's no way he's going anywhere until he's out of the ICU.

[MLSFan]

Probably needs to be out of ICU, transfer is possible but I don't know the procedure for it.

St Luke's East isn't a trauma center, so they may not have been equipped for him, but a heart attack is common so it is unlikely. They may have been full as well and diverted the ambulance to another hospital (unlikely but more likely than the first scenario). I can't imagine the ambulance having a kickback from Centerpoint but I don't know how they make money either.

I like St Luke's but I worked there before so I'm biased. I don't "dislike" Centerpoint but I have no experience with them as a patient or employee so I can't say if they are good or bad. Centerpoint doesn't have a good rep from a while back but it probably changed. I hope they wouldn't try to prevent a transfer just so they can make money off him since that's a lawsuit in the making, but well... lawsuits happen for a reason too. Pressure them into transferring him if he really wants it.

[luzianne]

You can transfer just because you want to. You don't have to stay at a hospital you don't want to be in. But he would need to be stable. Tell the staff at Centerpoint that you want him transferred to SLE. They will have to contact SLE and made sure there is a bed available and make arrangements. You could also contact his cardiologist and see if he can arrange transfer.

By the way - the same thing happened to my mom. She was in a car accident and was transferred to Centerpoint. They go to the nearest trauma center. Sometimes patients are diverted to a different facility if one ER is full too, like eyeb said.