Can a hospital refuse to remove a bug from your ear due to lack of health insurance?

Answer 1

A hospital cannot turn anyone away from the emergency room, without first determining what is wrong with you. Under federal rules called Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), the hospital has to screen and treat you whether you have insurance or not.

The treatment required, however, only needs to address your immediate, emergency needs. So, for example, the hospital would have to treat you for a heart attack but would not have to arrange a heart transplant for you.

Removing a bug certainly seems like a simple operation that would be part of the emergency room care. But if the bug's presence was not causing a medical emergency, and would require surgery, it is possible that the hospital could refuse to do it.