Man Says NYC Hospital Forced Rectal Exam

[BridgeWalker]

double-post.

[Sergeant Bob]

The hospital & ER staff are lucky he's only suing them; if that had happened to me or a family member, and the perps WEREN'T behind bars and charged with various and sundry crimes . . . their personal safety would not be assured.

They had no way of knowing whether his combativeness was due to head trauma or not.  They were trying to ensure his safety. So you would threaten people for doing their jobs?  Wonderful.

I think you're being a bit combative....maybe you need a rectal exam?

[Hawkmoon]

Hard to say what happened here, but as Ambulancedriver hints, overzealousness to teach procedures of dubious value aside... I can see how the hospital would possibly be in a catch-22. Brain injury can cause the victim to be combative. And if the hospital misses a neurological or spinal problem and the patient dies, or suffers a permanent disability or motor deficit, they could be on the hook for millions in malpractice.

Even acknowledging a smidgeon of relevence in the first part of your post, how could getting conked on the forehead with a 2x4 conceivable lead to a spinal chord injury that would in any way be revealed by a rectal examination? A rectal exam at best would allow the doc to manipulate the coccyx area and the sacchral area -- which are (in spinal terms) rather remote from the head.

[roo_ster]

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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... 

...Licenses should be lost over this.  Rapists should not be permitted to continue practicing in the profession they used to commit the rape.   

BW nails it.

If I were in dude's shoes, I would have been throwing elbows, breaking jaws, gouging eyes, etc.  The first penalty paid bythe bastards would have bee THEIR health & well-being.