The
Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (42 U.S.C. 1395dd) is an act the
United States Congress passed in 1986, requiring
hospitals and
ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency treatment regardless of
citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. There are no reimbursement provisions; as a result of the act, patients needing emergency treatment can be discharged only under their own informed consent or when their condition requires transfer to a hospital better equipped to administer the treatment.
The text of the act can be found here (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/1395dd.html).