The law will let the flagging hospital "recoup at least some of those costs, " he said, a potential catalyst for Spring Branch, a dying breed of small, for-profit facilities.

WSJ: Ruling Underscores Hospitals' Strategy

When the Massachusetts Legislature made health insurance mandatory five years ago, supporters of the first-in-the-nation law hoped it would keep patients out of hospital emergency rooms.

FORBES: Romneycare: More ER Crowding, Longer Doctor Wait Times

Report author Derek Law said none of the agencies responsible for "alerts", the hospital, Bedfordshire Police and social services teams at Luton and Central Bedfordshire councils, had been managing them effectively.

BBC: Carer Ameet Mohabeer 'abused victims' after return to work

When her own son was admitted to the hospital she accessed his medical records in violation of the law and was fired.

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Hospital and law enforcement officials remain tight-lipped about the condition of Warren Jeffs, the jailed president and prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the nation's largest polygamist group.

NPR: Jailed Polygamist Leader Jeffs Hospitalized

"Specialization is a law of nature, " says Robert Tibbs, a neurosurgeon and part-owner of the Oklahoma Spine Hospital.

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Scott, a former hospital CEO at HCA Holdings (HCA), has been an outspoken critic of the health law though at least one recent report says he is open to compromise.

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The war created a veritable "republic of suffering, " in the words that Frederick Law Olmsted chose to describe the wounded and dying arriving at Union hospital ships on the Virginia Peninsula.

NPR: 'Republic of Suffering' Author Drew Gilpin Faust