Search warrants and poss unethical searches

[Just Plain Ruff]

Read the first part of the article - it's about the guy who was cavity searched and charged for the colonoscopy all under the guise of a search warrant obtained because the police thought he had narcotics in his ass. We've all read the case but I'm including it for reference in a link below.

Would you have participated in this particular search and "seizure" or would you have refused? Would you have followed the lead of the first doctor who said it was unethical or would you have followed the search warrant and done what the police told you to do?

Here's the article. There are more than one part to this but the only part relevant to the discussion is the first part. The rest focuses on other areas of law enforcement.

http://watchdog.org/116683/nm-civil-liberties-2/

[island emt]

Not only did the arresting officer overstep the bounds of the law, he & his superiors went way overboard in following through with this whole action.

The fact that the original ER Doc refused to participate in this should have given them a clue that they might be stepping outside the limits of the law,

They then took him to a different hospital in a different county where the original warrant was not valid to find someone to do the rectal exam and follow up colonoscopy.

If it was me they would be looking at far more than a 1 million dollar lawsuit. I would demand 10 million and all those involved be fired from their jobs for violating my civil rights to clench my butt cheeks. :-}

What info we don't have is:

Did the defendant have a history of drug trafficking ???

Was he a convicted former felon?

or was this just a beat cop with a hardon for this guy???

What Did the prosecutor tell the judge to get the body cavity search warrant?

why did the 2nd hospital Doc and his facility go along with this blatant violation of the accused parties civil rights?

What were they all thinking?

I have seen folks at the border to canada get taken down the hall for a cavity search after something was found in their vehicles that was illegal. But that was after they had been found smuggling contraband into the country, not based on a beat cops assertion that he was clenching his butt cheeks.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Not only did the arresting officer overstep the bounds of the law, he & his superiors went way overboard in following through with this whole action.

The fact that the original ER Doc refused to participate in this should have given them a clue that they might be stepping outside the limits of the law,

They then took him to a different hospital in a different county where the original warrant was not valid to find someone to do the rectal exam and follow up colonoscopy.

If it was me they would be looking at far more than a 1 million dollar lawsuit. I would demand 10 million and all those involved be fired from their jobs for violating my civil rights to clench my butt cheeks. :-}

What info we don't have is:

Did the defendant have a history of drug trafficking ??? No I don't think he had been arrested for drug trafficing before.

Was he a convicted former felon? No I don't remember reading anything of the sort. but that would have come out in at least one of the sources I read.

or was this just a beat cop with a hardon for this guy??? You said "hard on" - coupled with Cavity search and we have a whole different story.

What Did the prosecutor tell the judge to get the body cavity search warrant? Unknown other than the guy was clenching his buttcheeks which is a prime indicator of holding contraband in your Freaking ASS!!!

why did the 2nd hospital Doc and his facility go along with this blatant violation of the accused parties civil rights? Because there were cops present, all of them were pissed off that they got denied at the first hospital and they were probably throwing their weight around and making threats like "If you don't go along, we will arrest you for obstruction of whatever the hell we want to arrest you for"

What were they all thinking? Well who knows what the hell they were thinking but I'll bet they are wondering what a 1 million dollar judgement looks like and if this guy gets a really sympathetic jury, he could get much much much more. Juries can tack on a lot more money if they feel like it. I hope they do.

I have seen folks at the border to canada get taken down the hall for a cavity search after something was found in their vehicles that was illegal. But that was after they had been found smuggling contraband into the country, not based on a beat cops assertion that he was clenching his butt cheeks.

I think I remember some of the answers to your question. See my answers in Red. This is only my recollection so I'm not sure where I heard it but it was from other news sources.

[paramedicmike]

I found this article on the incident. It answers some questions Island posed. It also has a section on the medical ethics involved.

People are allowed to refuse even if they're in custody.

Also, it appears that there is a lot of coverage of this particular story out there in a variety of news outlets ranging from local TV to the most fanatical right wing propagandist blogs.

While there are three sides to every story it might be possible to put together a pretty decent picture based on the variety of reporting sources. Or they're all just reporting off the same source and twisting things to fit their agenda from there.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Great article Mike. My thoughts of why the physicians participated is that they were threatened by the police with arrest and prosecution if they didn't do what they were told like good little boys and girls. I truly believe that is what happened to compel the physicians to do what they did.

[island emt]

Nice article Mike:

I have heard of the NM cases before and heard some of the far right wing talk show host commentaries on the police state that exists out there.

Have also heard that based on the officers dog "alerting " this whole thing came about.

Also that the same dog has a history of false "alerts".

Wonder if the dog is drug certified and by what agency?

Here dogs have to be trained and then certified by an independent agency that qualifies the dog to be used on the street for law enforcement purposes.

We have lab pups of our breeding that are search & rescue certified and bomb dog certified, so we have seen the process. Drug cert is one of the hardest to acquire.

Lets take this down a slightly different path for discussions sake while we are talking about medico/legal ethics.

You are at the scene of a motor vehicle crash. the police officer on scene comes over to the back of the ambulance and requests that you do a blood draw for him/her to retain as evidence of possible intoxication.

Do you comply or not?????

I know what my answer is as we have dealt with this in the past and have a written policy to cover what to do.

How about the staff at your local ER? Will they do a draw for law enforcement?

I'm not talking about blood draw for treatment reasons, but a specific kit drawn for law enforcement that will be used for possible prosecution.

Our deputies and state troopers all carry these sealed kits in their cruisers.

[ERDoc]

I sure as hell am not going to do it. If the officers were smart that would have just waited for him to unclench or fall asleep. He can't hold on to it forever. As for the questions about the PD asking EMS to do the blood draw, this has not been an issue in the 2 places I have worked. In NY, the PD had a PA on-call to do the blood draws that was a PD employee. He, the cops have to bring the pt to the lab, and by contract, a phlebotomist does the draw in the presence of the cop and suspect to maintain chain of custody.

[DwayneEMTP]

I wouldn't have participated without his consent...

Doc, is there anything that dictates that Docs must perform these tests to fulfill the warant, regardless their personal feelings on the matter?

[ERDoc]

I don't know if there is any precedence. I would have real trouble with a court telling me to do something against someone's wishes, unless the person was unable to make an informed consent. When I was a resident, we had the jail bring in a guy they thought had smuggled drugs in his rear so they brought him in. When I discussed it with the attending he said that we could not force the pt to do anything and he was free to sign AMA. The corrections officers weren't happy but they understood. In the end, they just checked his stool with every BM and found the drugs.

[island emt]

Since Dwayne has come back from the bush & is probably one of our more frequent flyers.

OK lets go off the rail in a slightly different track: How about airport screening where they make you go through a body scanner????

I don't fly so It won't affect me, but isn't it an X-ray scan?

medical procedure?????

Do You consent to that by wanting to get in an aluminum tube with engines for $$$