Tyrannosaurus Med

[Guest guest]

Written with good humour but what an indictment!

NaturalNews.com printable article

Originally published May 26 2008

Medical Tyranny: Patient Refuses Rectal Exam, Doctor Won't Butt Out

by Joanne Waldron (see all articles by this author)

(NaturalNews) Many people are under the impression that patients in the U.S.

have the right to decline treatment if they are mentally competent and aware of

the consequences of such a refusal. However, that doesn't seem to be the case if

you visit certain hospitals. A construction worker who was hit in the head while

on the job was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical

Center where he received eight stitches above his left eyebrow. When a doctor

informed him that he needed to have a rectal exam in order to ascertain whether

or not he sustained a spinal injury, the patient flatly refused the treatment.

What happened next is scary. While hospital personnel tried to hold the patient

down in order to administer the exam anyway, very much against the patient's

wishes, the patient accidentally hit a doctor while trying to break loose.

Unfortunately, the hospital staff did not wish to take " no " for an answer, and

the patient was drugged and later awoke with a tube in his throat and lubricant

in his rectum, handcuffed to a bed. It seems doctors have the authority to

decide to ignore the wishes of a patient if they feel the patient is incapable

of making an informed decision.

While it might be reasonable to give doctors some latitude in these matters, the

story doesn't seem to make sense. If the patient was truly unable to make an

informed decision about his medical care, why were misdemeanor assault charges

filed against him for hitting the doctor? Surely a patient who was incapable of

rational thought should not be held accountable if he were truly not thinking

clearly and only acting out due to an injury? Curiously, they all thought he was

thinking clearly enough to have him arrested for his actions but not clearly

enough to have the right to informed consent concerning his care.

Just how necessary is a rectal exam when someone sustains a head injury, anyway?

Clearly, not everyone who sustains a head injury and goes to an emergency room

receives a rectal exam, and some medical professionals say that there are less

invasive procedures that can be used to determine the neurological status of a

patient. The patient in this case was quite responsive. He knew what exam the

doctors wanted to do, and he knew why. His lawyer insists that things should've

come to a halt the moment he said " no. "

What is most disturbing to health freedom advocates is that the patient did not

prevail in his lawsuit against the hospital. Hopefully, his lawyers will file an

appeal. If any neurological testing needs to be done, perhaps it would best be

done on the jury members who apparently have butts where their brains should be.

References:

(http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gn7nIqTvF7zSx6NAjqcHp5xD5AUAD906RT180)