So before the EMTALA was passed in 1986 people were dying in the street? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_an...
(In practice: some private hospitals refused to accept poor uninsured patients, so these patients would be shuffled around in an attempt to find a hospital that would accept them. Sometimes patients would die before a hospital was found.)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1346189/pdf/canm...
I understand one of the reasons EMTALA was passed was due to public outrage caused by reports within newspapers, 60 Minutes, etc. on patient dumping.
From what I can Google, there are still patient dumping cases raised, even though the EMTALA exists. (12 settlements in 2013 for instance: http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues...)