3113

If the patient has a medical emergency condition which cannot be stabilized, or the woman is in labor, the hospital shall not transfer him/her to another medical institution unless the patient, or the person legally responsible for him/her and acting on his/her behalf, insists on the transfer. Furthermore, the transfer shall proceed if the physician, or any other qualified medical personnel, certifies, in writing, that the benefit that can be reasonably expected from the treatment to be provided by the other medical institution, surmounts the increased risk to the condition of the patient in carrying out the transfer, and that the same is appropriate, based upon reasonable risks, the possible benefit for the patient, and the information available at that moment. The physician in charge of the evaluation of the patient shall make the pertinent arrangements, or ascertain that these are made, for the patient to be admitted to the hospital facility to which he/she is to be transferred.\nHistory —June 28, 1994, No. 35, § 3, eff. 60 days after June 28, 1994.