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Tue Apr 22 17:31:08 BST 2008

I agree with ALL of your points.  It still doesn't negate the fact that Shakespear may have been the first to say kill all the lawyers, and many are lining up in his side of the line......

>>> Jeffery Hammond <hammond at umdnj.edu> 4/22/2008 12:21 PM >>>
Perhaps....but....the rectal exam was unnecessary and unwarranted. The
treating team (and I wonder if there was anyone senior and experienced
there) were functioning by rote. ATLS gone wild! 

They needed to do it to R/O a SCI??? Hogwash. 

They sedated him in order to do a rectal exam??? They snockered him to do an
unneeded exam. Borders on assault. 

BTW, did they have credentialing to do what amounted to IV conscious
sedation? If he had had a respiratory complication (e.g. aspiration) would
you view this case differently? 

A lawsuit may be too extreme, but this patient was pissed, and for good
reason.

JSH

Jeffrey Hammond MD, MPH

-----Original Message-----
From: trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org [mailto:trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org] 
On Behalf Of Ronald Gross
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 12:02 PM
To: CCML
Cc: Trauma &amp; Critical Care mailing list
Subject: Re: Rectal Exam Lawsuit DENIED

What amazes me is that there was a lawyer that actually took this case.

>>> "Andrew J Bowman" <andrewj.bowman at gmail.com> 4/22/2008 11:21 AM >>>
Man loses lawsuit over rectal exam
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 6:23 AM

NEW YORK -- A hospital did nothing wrong when it tried to examine the rectum
of a construction worker who had been hit on the head by a falling wooden
beam, a jury found Monday.

After deliberating for about an hour, a state Supreme Court jury awarded
nothing to Brian Persaud, who sued NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for
unspecified damages. The panel found the hospital and its emergency room
medical staff were not liable.

Persaud's lawyers, Gerard Marrone and Gary DeFilippo, said he might appeal.

"We're very disappointed," Marrone said after the two-week trial. "It's a
miscarriage of justice."

The hospital's lawyer, Jeffrey Lawton, declined comment.

Marrone said Persaud, 38, was injured while working at a construction site
in midtown Manhattan on May 20, 2003. Persaud received eight stitches for a
cut over his eyebrow at the hospital, but denied emergency room staffers' 
request to examine his rectum, the lawyer said. He said doctors told Persaud
the exam could help determine whether the accident caused spinal damage.

When Persaud resisted, staffers held him down while he begged, "Please don't
do that," Marrone said. Persaud hit a doctor while flailing around, so the
staffers gave him a powerful sedative and performed the rectal exam, he
said.

Hospital witnesses testified at trial that the exam was never completed, but
Marrone said that when Persaud woke up he was handcuffed to a bed and had an
oxygen tube down his throat and lubricant in his rectum.

"He resisted because he didn't know what they were doing," DeFilippo said. 
"Once he said he didn't want the rectal exam, everything should have
stopped."

DeFilippo said he believes the rectal exam was done as retaliation because
his panicked client hit the doctor.

A judge dismissed a misdemeanor assault charge that was filed against
Persaud because he hit the doctor.

DeFilippo said his client is unemployed and has been unable to hold a job
since the accident.

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Rectal Exam Lawsuit DENIED