Chris
08-16-2013, 10:36 AM
Judge Orders Doctors To Pump Prisoner's Stomach, Doctors Tell Judge To Piss Off (http://reason.com/blog/2013/08/15/judge-orders-doctors-to-pump-prisoners-s)
...But what if the warrant requires evidence to be gathered in a way that necessitates the skills of trained professionals? And what if those conscripted professionals find the ordered procedures unethical and abhorrent? And then they...refuse?
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Milwaukee police officers who were chasing Terrance Fleetwood last winter were sure they saw him swallow a bag of suspected cocaine.
So sure, they persuaded a judge to sign a search warrant to perform a surgical procedure on Fleetwood to retrieve the suspected contraband by sucking it from his stomach up through his nose.
The case came to light this month when the search warrant was finally filed.
Fleetwood's attorney, Bridget Boyle, said it was the first and only time she's ever seen police seek, and get, a warrant to have something as serious as nasogastric aspiration done to get evidence from a suspect.
"Thankfully, the doctors refused to do it," Boyle said recently.
Instead of examining the pumped contents of Fleetwood's stomach, police had to content themselves with staking out his hospital bed at the Aurora Sinai Medical Center for five days, to no avail. Ultimately, Fleetwood pled guilty to two counts of obstructing justice, and was sentenced to 18 months, with credit for 118 days....
There is some scatalogical humor in the way the story reads, two counts of obstructing, one the swallowing, the second the constipation--good Lord, five days!
Bet there is also a serious question. The law says the doctor must act, but ethics says he must not.
Is justice served by law or ethics/morals?
...But what if the warrant requires evidence to be gathered in a way that necessitates the skills of trained professionals? And what if those conscripted professionals find the ordered procedures unethical and abhorrent? And then they...refuse?
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Milwaukee police officers who were chasing Terrance Fleetwood last winter were sure they saw him swallow a bag of suspected cocaine.
So sure, they persuaded a judge to sign a search warrant to perform a surgical procedure on Fleetwood to retrieve the suspected contraband by sucking it from his stomach up through his nose.
The case came to light this month when the search warrant was finally filed.
Fleetwood's attorney, Bridget Boyle, said it was the first and only time she's ever seen police seek, and get, a warrant to have something as serious as nasogastric aspiration done to get evidence from a suspect.
"Thankfully, the doctors refused to do it," Boyle said recently.
Instead of examining the pumped contents of Fleetwood's stomach, police had to content themselves with staking out his hospital bed at the Aurora Sinai Medical Center for five days, to no avail. Ultimately, Fleetwood pled guilty to two counts of obstructing justice, and was sentenced to 18 months, with credit for 118 days....
There is some scatalogical humor in the way the story reads, two counts of obstructing, one the swallowing, the second the constipation--good Lord, five days!
Bet there is also a serious question. The law says the doctor must act, but ethics says he must not.
Is justice served by law or ethics/morals?