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I'm staying in Idaho to practice medicine after the U.S. Supreme Court’s EMTALA decision • Idaho Capital Sun [1]

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Date: 2024-06-28  

Earlier this year, I described how and why I made the difficult decision to stay and practice medicine in Idaho given the increasing threats to reproductive health care that I witnessed firsthand as a medical trainee. As I’m writing this now, the U.S. Supreme Court just issued a decision in the landmark abortion case Idaho v. U.S., upholding a patients’ right to receive an abortion as part of emergency medical care. Still, my head is filled with questions and my heart aches for my future patients’ safety and wellbeing.

Will this decision be enough to keep them safe?

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, has provided decisive ruling principle in the medical world for 38 years now. It’s kept doctors and hospitals accountable in ensuring every U.S. citizen has access to receive the standard of medical care, regardless of financial, political or religious pressures discouraging treatment of certain conditions or populations.

Now, in places like my home state of Idaho where stringent abortion bans are being enacted, pregnant patients face the possibility of not receiving appropriate medical care simply on the basis of being pregnant. That’s a devastating prospect, and it weighs heavily on my mind as an Idahoan medical provider.

Right now is the time when next year’s medical students are beginning to seriously consider where they’re going to complete their residency, as they prepare their applications before summer deadlines. Now as a resident physician, I worry about the excellent future physicians who will decide not to apply here in Idaho and attend our exceptional residency programs because of this SCOTUS case and how much it has complicated the state of abortion care for our providers.

I worry about the patients who may not have access to health care because of our provider shortage when those residents and other physicians choose not to work here. And I continue to worry about the pregnant patients in Idaho and what they may have to endure if this decision doesn’t provide the protection they need and deserve.

When I think of what’s kept me in Idaho, the first thing that comes to mind are the faces of the people I’ve worked with who have also chosen to fight for their patients’ wellbeing, regardless of what havoc our courts may wreak. Their courage has empowered me to stay and work alongside them. It’s been humbling to see how Idahoans have come together to fight against our state’s abortion ban in the months leading up to this pivotal Supreme Court decision — a decision I hope will provide the legal protection we need here.

To my fellow Idahoans: Please keep fighting for better policy to make this state safer for pregnant patients. Because trust me — this isn’t the end of our fight for reproductive rights. Not in Idaho, and not beyond. Ultimately, we still need to continue fighting for larger policy change that allows patients with unviable pregnancies or health conditions to receive the care they need at home. But I promise I’ll still be here in your corner no matter what the future may bring, because you make all the challenges worthwhile.

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[1] Url: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/06/28/im-staying-in-idaho-to-practice-medicine-after-the-u-s-supreme-courts-emtala-decision/

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