Man claims police, hospital forced med treatment

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http://www.examiner.com/a-1732660~Man_claims_police__hospital_forced_med_treatment.htmlMan claims police, hospital forced med treatmentBy P. SOLOMON BANDA, APA Colorado man claims he was roused from bed and forced by police to get medical treatment that included being strapped to a gurney and given a psychotropic drug at a hospital before he was released seven hours later without a criminal charge.

He also received $6,000 in medical bills.

Gerald Schlenker, a 48-year-old former forklift operator from the Denver suburb of Broomfield, has filed a notice of intent to sue for more than $1 million in damages from the city of

Arvada, its police department, mayor and City Council, said his attorney, Mari Newman.

Arvada police say Schlenker was incoherent and that officers acted appropriately to ensure his safety.

"We would be responsible for not taking any action because we believed that this person could not take care of himself," police Cmdr. K. Foos said Thursday of the May 25 incident. Officers called paramedics because Schlenker's behavior made them think it wasn't safe to leave him alone.

Schlenker said he had been drinking with a friend at a bar May 24 when he went to his friend's apartment at about 9 p.m. He fell asleep in a bedroom but was awakened about 2:30 a.m. by police who were arresting his friend for a disturbance at the bar.

Police questioned Schlenker for nearly an hour, then had paramedics take him to St. 's North Hospital because he was "acting strangely," according to the notice of intent to sue filed Nov. 21 by Newman. In Colorado, a notice is required before filing a lawsuit against a government entity.

The hospital and paramedics who treated him may also face lawsuits, but police are targeted first because they set off the chain of events that led to Schlenker's treatment, Newman said.

Schlenker said he was polite but didn't cooperate with police or medical staff because he was upset about being roused from bed for no reason. He did acknowledge he had been drinking before going to bed, and a test at the hospital showed his blood alcohol level at 0.163, twice the legal limit for driving.

"I told these people, 'Leave me alone, I don't have to answer these questions,' over and over again," Schlenker said. "I tell them right to their face, `I refuse medical treatment, do not touch me.'"

Hospital staff said he had an "altered mental status," according to hospital notes obtained by Newman, but Schlenker said he was lucid and fully aware of what was happening.

Schlenker said he was crying as he pleaded with nurses who strapped him to a hospital gurney for six hours, drew blood and collected urine samples without his permission. An IV was inserted into one of his arms and he was given an oral swab and had a syringe "stabbed" into his hip, according to Schlenker, paramedic notes and hospital records obtained by Newman.

Hospital notes indicate Schlenker was given olanzapine, an anti-psychotic drug that can be used to treat schizophrenia.

Schlenker said officers "threatened" to get him medical help twice and finally called paramedics when he refused to take a Breathalyzer test. A report of the incident wasn't written, Foos said, partly because officers don't write reports on first aid calls.

A police report on his friend's arrest shows that Schlenker wasn't questioned or was part of the investigation of the bar disturbance. Foos said a supplement to the report was in the works.

Foos did say officers couldn't determine what Schlenker was doing in an apartment that wasn't his.

Paramedics noted in a patient care report, obtained by Newman, that Schlenker was a "poor historian," meaning he couldn't answer such questions as "What is your name?" and "What are you doing here?"

Pridemark Paramedic Services LLC CEO Mike Donner said the crew did everything correctly, including tying Schlenker's arms and legs to gurney rails. He supported the crew, which didn't believe he could make medical decisions and noted that the patient was agitated.

St. 's Hospital North spokeswoman Jensen said Schlenker was deemed "emergent," or unable to make medical decisions for himself, based on his mental state and the fact he was transported to the hospital in an ambulance.

"Emergent" is the same type of classification that allows hospitals to treat people who arrive unconscious and cannot consent to treatment, Jensen said.

In hospital documents obtained by Newman, nurses noted that Schlenker was combative and refused to answer questions. Patient "is angry for being transferred here against his will," one nurse wrote.

Schlenker was released after about 7 hours at the hospital. He did not face any criminal charges.

"The number of constitutional violations is incredible," Newman said. "We had to get independent confirmation (of his story) because it's so outlandish that it's hard to believe."

"He had gone home from the bar and he was sleeping soundly in his bed when the cops bust in," said Newman. "Of course he is going to be acting strangely."

Steinhauser, adjunct professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, said the law requires more than a judgment of acting strange to transport someone to the hospital for a possible mental health reason.

"There's a lot of people that act strange and if that's the standard, think of how many people we'd have transported to the hospital on mental health reasons," she said. "What is the definition of strange?"