.
Of course, not listening to the patient's wishes and the personal dignity issues are huge too.
Sounds like it's a difficult call, and at least something muddled and difficult enough to actually be worthy of a court's time.
Y'know, I hear what you are saying, and this not directed at you, but at the general attitude in this country. That said: BS. Someone else's potential liability *never* gives them the right to violate my personal freedoms. Their right to act in fear of liability ends at the physical boundaries of my body.
I was once subjected to a forced medical procedure. Further, a whole lot of women are; it is routine procedure in obstetrics. It is routine procedure in ER's. It is illegal and wrong. I don't think the fact that the SC has recognized the right to be free of unwanted touch is irrelevant. Sure, the hospital cannot be guilty of a constitutional violation, but it is an indication of the extreme importance of this right that is also protected at civil and criminal law in addition to constitutional law. And it is a real freaking shame that we're so sympathetic to the hospital's legal concerns that we're willing to even give them weight as an issue in the face of such blatant and egregious abuse and violation of a human being.
You were afraid of being sued if you didn't do it? Tough. You get the signature, you cover your ass. You do what you can. And that's all you can do. When you decide to extend your power into denying a person determination over his or her own body, you cross a serious and very ancient line and you need to pay, civilly and criminally. Licenses should be lost over this. Rapists should not be permitted to continue practicing in the profession they used to commit the rape.
