Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Rectal exam...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/ap_on_re_us/unwanted_exam;_ylt=AnDztqX_qyDwllydem_3z08Z.3QA

Man: NY hospital forced rectal exam

25 minutes ago

NEW YORK - A construction worker claimed in a lawsuit that when he went to a hospital after being hit on the forehead by a falling wooden beam, emergency room staffers forcibly gave him a rectal examination.

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Brian Persaud, 38, says in court papers that after he denied a request by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital emergency room employees to examine his rectum, he was "assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned."

His lawyer, Gerrard M. Marrone, said he and Persaud later learned the exam was one way of determining whether he had suffered spinal damage in the accident.

Marrone said his client got eight stitches for a cut over his eyebrow.

Then, Marrone said, emergency room staffers insisted on examining his rectum and held him down while he begged, "Please don't do that." He said Persaud hit a doctor while flailing around and staffers gave him an injection, which knocked him out, and performed the rectal exam.

Persaud woke up handcuffed to a bed and with an oxygen tube down his throat, the lawyer said, and spent three days in a detention center.

A request by the hospital to dismiss Persaud's lawsuit was denied by Justice Alice Schlesinger, who ordered a trial to start March

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The reason why this case will probably fail is that people with head injuries commonly fight. However, if he did indeed say "don't do that" there may be some traction here...

1 Comments:

Blogger Jeremiah said...

A judge recently allowed Brian Persaud to ask for 36 million dollars, instead of 26 million.
His attorney evidently presented a good argument. His attorney, by the way, has been successful in defense of Mafia figures.

The hospital described Persaud in medical records as alert, and oriented. He only resisted when they attempted to force a procedure on him. Once he was sedated, that very procedure became useless. A sedated patient cannot respond properly to such a procedure.

If Persaud was so impaired why was he arrested, and humiliated. The hospital is just trying to cover it's own butt.

I hope Persaud wins every red cent of that award. The hospital failed to get the case dismissed after five years of wrangling.It may be even harder to convince a jury of ordinary citizens. A competent patient can refuse, even emergency treatment. I have seen no evidence, the man was unable to decide for himself. I believe if the hospital had that concrete evidence, this case would have been dismissed long ago.

Alas we shall see. The trial should begin Monday.

10:50 PM  

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