How a small-time drug bust ignited a feud between police and a Catholic hospital
www.nbcnews.com
Convinced a suspect was hiding evidence, police in Ohio ordered doctors to search his body cavity. The doctors refused.

Last August, police in Lorain, Ohio, arrested a man they suspected of hiding a baggie of drugs in his butt. He denied it, but police were certain, so they took him to a local hospital for a body cavity search.

The case then swerved into unusual territory: The man would not agree to the procedure, so the police got a judge to order it. The doctors refused, saying it was dangerous and unethical — and later added that it violated the hospital’s Catholic principles.

The police pushed back. The doctors didn’t budge. The dispute spiraled.

The hospital now faces criminal charges and has been forced to dismantle its in-house police force. It has sued authorities, alleging retaliation and discrimination. And the man who was held at the hospital while the two sides fought over his bowel movements says he was humiliated and violated by the experience.

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  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    6 hours ago

    As the stalemate dragged on, Harris remained held in the 338-bed hospital, where staff said no foreign object emerged. “Nothing came out other than natural stuff,” he said.

    Why was this not the obvious plan B when the search became an issue? Why is it still an issue after no drugs came out? Is it just because the police want to prove their authority over your body?