McCullum v. Silver Cross Hosp.,
No. 99 C 4327 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 21, 2001)

An African American couple sued a hospital after their unborn child died. The couple claimed that although the woman complained of abdominal pains, and was a high-risk pregnancy, she was left unattended for several hours. During that time, the couple claims a white woman, who arrived two hours later, received immediate attention. Additionally, the couple claimed that a physician took a medical history, but failed to conduct a physical exam. The couple filed an amended complaint alleging violations of EMTALA.

The hospital and the physician moved to dismiss the amended complaint arguing, among other things, that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations. The United States District Court, Northern District Illinois disagreed with respect to the hospital, but dismissed the complaint against the physician. The court found that since the EMTALA claims of the amended complaint arose from the same set of facts as the original complaint, the claims related back to the filing date of the original complaint. With respect to the physician, however, the court found the physician had not been properly served with process for the first complaint. Therefore, there was no complaint to relate back to for the EMTALA claims.