Duty to Patients who cannot Pay

Dr Armstrong is an orthopedic surgeon who formerly worked at a local community hospital in his suburb. He left that arrangement one month ago in order to join a sports medicine clinic.

One Sunday morning at 3:25 am, he receives a call at home morning. The caller from the emergency room staff did not realize that he had left the hospital and was calling about a 23-year-old student from a local college who had fallen off the deck at a pool party. The young man had suffered serious damage to his foot, and no one was available at the hospital at that time to evaluate him.

The student had arrived at the emergency room awake but intoxicated and slightly incoherent. When asked, the young man does manage to say that he has no insurance.

Is Dr. Armstrong under any obligation to treat the injured young man in this case? Would he be justified in avoiding this case simply because the patient had no insurance?