Two Ohio ER Physicians Arrested for Failing to Perform Body Cavity Search

[southerndoc]

How a small-time drug bust ignited a feud between police and a Catholic hospital

Convinced a suspect was hiding evidence, police in Ohio ordered doctors to search his body cavity. The doctors refused.

www.nbcnews.com

Mercy Health, county Prosecutor argue ethics, law on body cavity search warrants in court

Common Pleas Judge Giovanna Bremke did not make a ruling after the hearing concluded. She ordered the parties to make further, written legal arguments and provide them to her court by 9 a.m. Monday.

chroniclet.com

This doesn't change my practice one bit. If they show up with a warrant for a body cavity search and the patient refuses, I will politely tell them I am not an agent of the court, rule out any medical condition, click the discharge info in Epic, and go on seeing other patients. If they arrest me, then sobeit.

Numerous societies and legal precedent have said we are not agents of the court and cannot be compelled to perform a body cavity search. If the patient is disoriented/altered in any way, you could say that the packed drugs are causing their symptoms and could perform the exam if medically necessary.

I'm sure the relationship between Lorain, OH police officers and their local health system has gone to crap now. They should probably seek care elsewhere. 😀

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cyanide12345678]

Damn…. I’ve worked for mercy health. Could have been me. Though I’ve never either at the lorain shop but one of the places 1 hour away.

I can’t believe they went after the doctors. This is so wrong on so many levels.

I hope the doctors sue the city.

 

[Porfirio]

Damn the Radiologist’s hedge on the CT read…

 

[EctopicFetus]

What a crazy event. One thing that isnt mentioned is you have to lawyer up here. While I agree that the docs can and should sue the city/cops until that happens the docs will have to retain legal counsel and it is unlikely thats covered by their med mal.

 

[johhnybgood]

What a crazy event. One thing that isnt mentioned is you have to lawyer up here. While I agree that the docs can and should sue the city/cops until that happens the docs will have to retain legal counsel and it is unlikely thats covered by their med mal.

I sent the police chief an email.
Pathetic. Dunno how this has gotten this far along.

 

[BoardingDoc]

I don't know why no one in any of the articles I've read has brought up the fact that doctors are not officers of the court. The focus on why this is ethically wrong and opens up obvious civil and criminal liability is all well and good, but shouldn't this be a fairly open and shut issue of "I don't work for you?"

Relevant ACEP article: Must an Emergency Physician Comply with a Body Cavity Search Warrant? - ACEP Now

 

[TeddyBoomBoom]

There is exactly 0% chance that I will ever do a body cavity search against someone’s will on an “order” from law enforcement.

The whole “not an agent of the state” aren’t just words. It means I don’t work for them and am under no obligation to commit battery just bc some officer says so.

 

[WhatJobDoIPick]

To me this sounds like temporary hardship while I retain legal counsel go through that mess, but also contacting every local and regional news outlet for interviews, followed by suing city for a boat load of cash for lost wages and emotional distress, book tour, early retirement.

 

[ShockIndex]

How a small-time drug bust ignited a feud between police and a Catholic hospital

Convinced a suspect was hiding evidence, police in Ohio ordered doctors to search his body cavity. The doctors refused.

www.nbcnews.com

Mercy Health, county Prosecutor argue ethics, law on body cavity search warrants in court

Common Pleas Judge Giovanna Bremke did not make a ruling after the hearing concluded. She ordered the parties to make further, written legal arguments and provide them to her court by 9 a.m. Monday.

chroniclet.com

This doesn't change my practice one bit. If they show up with a warrant for a body cavity search and the patient refuses, I will politely tell them I am not an agent of the court, rule out any medical condition, click the discharge info in Epic, and go on seeing other patients. If they arrest me, then sobeit.

Numerous societies and legal precedent have said we are not agents of the court and cannot be compelled to perform a body cavity search. If the patient is disoriented/altered in any way, you could say that the packed drugs are causing their symptoms and could perform the exam if medically necessary.

I'm sure the relationship between Lorain, OH police officers and their local health system has gone to crap now. They should probably seek care elsewhere. 😀

So, there is another important aspect of this story that the article does not explicitly mention. This hospital had a contract with the municipality and its police force, LPD, to form its own hospital police. Part of that contract included 2-way mutual assistance language - the municipal police force (LPD) provides training, equipment, some administrative assistance, etc. to the hospital’s police force. In return, the hospital police force was to assist LPD with reporting and investigating crime, supervision of suspects in its custody, transportation to/from the hospital for treatment, etc. I bet you can start to see how this “deal with the devil” created a very sticky situation where the hospital’s primary mission of providing healthcare can be put in jeopardy by its desire to simultaneously serve as a police force.

Personally, I’m not a fan of private organizations and especially hospitals forming their own police forces. This is typically done to provide liability protections should the hospitals agents injure a person and to lessen the costs of training/equipping what amounts to armed security. However, the need for an armed security are very different than responsible policing, and the financial juice is often not worth the squeeze when the rubber hits the road and judges, prosecutors, and other agencies expect the hospital to live up to its law enforcement charter and contract.

 

[Arcan57]

So, there is another important aspect of this story that the article does not explicitly mention. This hospital had a contract with the municipality and its police force, LPD, to form its own hospital police. Part of that contract included 2-way mutual assistance language - the municipal police force (LPD) provides training, equipment, some administrative assistance, etc. to the hospital’s police force. In return, the hospital police force was to assist LPD with reporting and investigating crime, supervision of suspects in its custody, transportation to/from the hospital for treatment, etc. I bet you can start to see how this “deal with the devil” created a very sticky situation where the hospital’s primary mission of providing healthcare can be put in jeopardy by its desire to simultaneously serve as a police force.

Personally, I’m not a fan of private organizations and especially hospitals forming their own police forces. This is typically done to provide liability protections should the hospitals agents injure a person and to lessen the costs of training/equipping what amounts to armed security. However, the need for an armed security are very different than responsible policing, and the financial juice is often not worth the squeeze when the rubber hits the road and judges, prosecutors, and other agencies expect the hospital to live up to its law enforcement charter and contract.

Even then, the deal is with the hospital's police force per your reporting. They can mutually aid each other but that doesn't obligate me.

 

[ShockIndex]

Even then, the deal is with the hospital's police force per your reporting. They can mutually aid each other but that doesn't obligate me.

I would hope that you’re correct, and I would recommend that you not go sticking your finger up anyone’s arse in a situation like this. However, I don’t think that this hospital’s administrators seem very bright, and I wouldn’t put it past them to sign a contract with LPD that was overly broad in their zest to hire their own police force. Keep in mind, that this small hospital is suing to keep their cops after all that has happened.

Still, I wager that you would be far better off following your instincts and paying the legal fees to defend the court order violations than what would undoubtedly come from violating your patient’s dignity.

My larger point is that the hospital isn’t doing itself or the physicians that work there any favors by doubling as a law enforcement agency. It’s one thing to piss off the police chief, but it seems that the DA, at least one US District Judge, and probably the town council is aligned against the hospital. This is a far more balance article on why hospitals (and this one in particular) shouldn’t double as LEOs.

Lorain police: Review of Mercy Health security agreement goes back to 2021

Mercy Health - Lorain has had its own commissioned police department since at least 2018 through an agreement with Lorain police. The decision to revoke that agreement is one tenant of an ongoing lawsuit between the Catholic hospital and the city, county and several public officials.

chroniclet.com

 

[southerndoc]

I sent the police chief an email.
Pathetic. Dunno how this has gotten this far along.

Let us know if you get a response.

 

[Birdstrike]

Seems like a tremendous act of cowardice by the cops when they know damn well they can put on a pair of gloves as easy as anyone.

Sticking a finger up someone’s rectum and pulling out a baggy of cocaine isn’t exactly rocket science. High school diploma optional.

Cops can get a court order to authorize doing it themselves. They’re also free to pick through the patient’s stool. Prison guards do these searches when someone is admitted to prison all the time.

 

[carbonizedeyesockets]

My god, I can only imagine how insufferable these guys are.

 

[Apollyon]

The first guy looks like Farva's brother. I wonder if he wants a liter of cola?

 

[EMhawkeye]

The first guy looks like Farva's brother. I wonder if he wants a liter of cola?

Shenanigans!

 

[southerndoc]

My god, I can only imagine how insufferable these guys are.

Apparently their fingers don't work. It's not rocket science to stick a finger up someone's rectum to try to recover something. They can do that just as well as a physician can.

 

[ShockIndex]

Well, apparently it’s over…for now.

MSN

All the charges have been dropped, the 300-bed hospital gets to keep its police force, and a 3rd party doctor gets to decide who will be anally violated the next time there is a dispute between doctors and the municipal police.

 

[Pinner Doc]

This doesn't change my practice one bit. If they show up with a warrant for a body cavity search and the patient refuses, I will politely tell them I am not an agent of the court, rule out any medical condition, click the discharge info in Epic, and go on seeing other patients. If they arrest me, then sobeit.

This. Take me off an ER shift? Don't threaten me with a good time!