Hospital and police department feud over baggie of drugs in patient’s rectum
A hospital in Ohio is suing the local government and its police force, claiming they retaliated against it after doctors refused to remove a baggie of suspected drugs from a patient’s rectum.
In a legal complaint, Mercy Health-Lorain Hospital said county police and prosecutors attempted to force its clinicians to perform a procedure that would have endangered the patient’s life and violated the “right of conscience” of the Catholic facility.
After it refused to execute a search warrant that demanded doctors remove the baggie, Mercy Health’s president was charged with contempt of court. The outcome of that case is still pending litigation. However, in the meantime, the Lorain County police chief revoked a security agreement with the hospital, leaving it to rely on other services.
Last week, the Lorain police department effectively disbanded. The ancillary police department was formed to protect the hospital, and the chief argued it can be abolished at any time.
The fight between Mercy Health and law enforcement began on Aug. 10 when the county jail refused to book an inmate, suspecting the 31-year-old male had drugs in his rectum. He was taken to Mercy for the removal, with county prosecutors and a judge issuing two search warrants, the second of which demanded clinicians perform the extraction procedure.
Doctors argued the baggie would dislodge itself and that it was dangerous to forcibly extract it. At that time, police threatened hospital President Gil Palmer with arrest for obstruction when he backed the decision of his medical staff.
Mercy Health’s attorney has called the actions of police, city, and county officials “discriminatory and constitutionally repugnant abuses” and vowed to take the case to court.
The lawsuit was filed last week, shortly after the police department withdrew its protection agreement with the hospital. A hearing on the case has yet to be scheduled.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.