Yesterday, we discussed the horrific allegations against police from Deming, New Mexico and the medial staff of Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, N.M. They (and others including the local prosecutor) allegedly conducted repeated digital anal searches of man stopped for a minor traffic violation and then performed multiple enemas and a colonoscopy in search of drugs. David Eckert has sued for both compensatory and punitive damages. However, I learned today that in addition to the alleged physical abuse, he was sent a $6000 bill from the hospital for the involuntary colonoscopy.
His lawyer says that the hospital sent him the bill, which is perfectly bizarre. They must be treating this as if he had come into the hospital unconscious and required the procedure. Yet, he was objecting to the procedures and the other intrusive measures taken against him. Hopefully, the court will rule against the likely motion al limine filed by the hospital to keep the bill out of the trial. I would love to see the jury that is informed at the end of this alleged nightmare, Eckert received a bill for his mistreatment. As opposing counsel, it is sometimes better to be the one to mention such damaging facts in your opening argument to avoid Plaintiff’s counsel dropping it with greater effect at trial.
What is clear is that, regardless of the outcome at trial, someone needs to be fired for such absurd acts. My assumption is that the police declined the bill for the procedure but it is not clear who made this decision.
Source: US News
Sadly, this appears to be heading to settlement out of court. It is very likely other misdeeds by this department that will not see the light of day now. From my view, the scope of the violation at multiple levels warrants a federal investigation.
Michaelb, I don’t think that settling the civil case will preclude Federal charges against the crooks. I am reminded of a case involving BP agents Ramos and Compean who were tried and found guilty of shooting a career drug smuggler who fought with them, ran away across the Rio Grande. This was an extreme case of prosecuting two agents who acted legally and in good faith, but the US attorney decided that it would make good political capital to prosecute them. They got a savage sentence of 15 yrs in prison, but were later commuted by Bush at the end of his term.
This case is so egregious that I hope that enough political pressure can be brought to force criminal charges against all the defendants, including the doctors. I am afraid that the doctors might skate and keep their licenses unless they are convicted of the felonies which they committed. The cops need to get some serious prison time, otherwise they and their fellow cops will continue these kinds of things.
When you seek treatment from a doctor or a hospital you, typically, sign an agreement/contract to pay for the procedure if the insurance company won’t pay or for any other reason the doctor or hospital can not get paid. Two simple moves automatically void a contract, fraud and negligence.
If Eckert agreed to pay in writing then he is screwed legally. If he did not then there is no contract. If the hospital did not get a signed agreement and/or acted against the wishes of the subject, then there is no legal way they can collect.
Unfortunately this is the USA and judges are systems of laws unto themselves, especially in the South. Who ever sent the bill out is an idiot and contributes to the excessive costs of American health care. One of the largest ingredients is legal costs. The hospital will pay well over $6k and probably, hopefully not get paid and on top of that may be fined.
The informed consent was signed the same way the bandleader let Johnny Fontaine out of his contract.
From the US News article:
“Officers then transported Eckert to the Gila Regional Medical Center after an emergency room doctor at a Deming, N.M., hospital told them “this is unethical,” Kennedy said. The doctor who refused to comply with police is willing to testify if the lawsuit goes to trial, according to Kennedy.”
…
Kennedy filed a motion for summary judgment Oct. 24, asking the court to rule on the facts of the case, which she says are not disputed. She says defendants responded by expressing interest in resolving the case outside of court.”
LOL. I’m not an attorney, but would imagine that the defense will go to great lengths to keep this from going to trial.
Thankfully, there was at least one physician who said “no” to the police.
I don’t know anything about that particular hospital, but do know quite a bit about hospitals in general. The billing and accounts receivable departments are completely separate from the medical service departments. Neither knows anything about what the other is doing. The emergency department clerk obtains basic information about every patient who walks through the door, no matter if they are in custody or the free world. That is entered into the computer and sent to the billing department electronically. There are a couple of standard signature forms all hospitals use, including an agreement to pay what insurance does not cover and the informed consent form. I would like to know if Mr. Eckert signed those, of if he did, did he do it under duress? If he signed the forms, it creates a hurdle for his own attorney, but nothing insurmountable. I would love to see the informed consent form and know what Mr. Eckert was told if he did in fact sign it. Such as just how “informed” was the consent.
Once again we see a vivid example of how this country is becoming a fascist state where the local police have become the new SS. Of course none of these semi literate morons will ever be disciplined despite the fact that there flagrant violations of this man’s constitutional rights will hopefully cost their employers a fortune
MichaelA, You need a source in ER’s. You do know there are barristers who do that.
New Mexico is Pirate Territory which abuts (no pun intended) Mexico which is a civilized nationstate. When flying down to Acapulco for vacation and you fly over New Mexico, please flush the toilet.
We dogs like to identify the various Pirate Territories mentioned on this blog which are casually referred to in the Articles on topic as countries or states. By so doing we remind readers that there are tiers of various places on Earth and they are not all civilized nations which uphold the rights of man or beast. East of Corfu the Ten Commandments do not apply. But it is worse than that. The list is worldwide. Sometimes the territories are controlled from top down and other places from bottom up. In New Mexico you have it both ways. No pun intended. These people in that town in New Mexico have a lot on their plate, so to speak. If you drive through and stop in the truck stop do not eat off a plate. God only knows if the dishwasher or waiter has a second job at the hospital. You know they don’t wash up right in Pirate Territories. But Jeso do not drive into New Mexico. If you do wear a metal uttBay bucket with a lock on it that they cannot cut off.
If I was the lawyer for Anal exam John I would stand up at jury selection and slowly pull on a pair of rubber gloves over each hand as I conducted voir dire. In closing statement I would leave them up on the rostrum for the other guy to deal with when it was his time to give his closing argument. Drape em over the edge up at the top so the jury could see them. I would ask for a sum of money for each penetration equal to the squeals the jurors each felt each time they heard about it from the witness stand. I would suggest a hundred thousand for a finger, five hundred thousand for an enema and then puns of twenty times actual damages. In addition to damages I would seek declaratory judgment and injunction against the igPays and the hospital. The igPays are reliable to do this again and I would want them to be liable for it.
If he was in custody I think it’s the Law enforcements bill….. I think I’d be shifting if I got this bill….
There are federal color of law statutes to prosecute this police department, the Department of Justice could initiate the proceedings against these criminals. One statute covers “pattern & practice” dealing with a culture of corruption where the entire department can be restructured and the top management removed from office.
That’ll make a great trial exhibit.
I can guarantee you that emergency room visits are not free.
If the services were ordered by a government agency the hospital and medical personnel are held harmless unless their actions were clearly illegal.
The hospital and doctors do not expect payment when they make these absurd billing charges to uninsured people. They do however intend to use these charges as a tax write off. All of these unpaid charges which are double the negotiated insurance rate and triple the Medicare rate are counted as a loss. This scam is why the medical industry is the third most powerful special interest in DC.
if a mechanic was legally obligated to, at the very least, stabilize and transport every car that came in the door regardless of the ability of the owner to pay that argument might make sense.
great thing about the affordable care act (obamacare). since everyone will have a minimum of health insurance, hospitals should be paid something for the emergency room care they have been providing for free.
so hospital costs should go down.
though i doubt that will make mr. eckert’s a$$ feel any better.
Pete wrote: “if a mechanic was legally obligated to, at the very least, stabilize and transport every car that came in the door regardless of the ability of the owner to pay that argument might make sense.”
During the Reagan years, the EMTALA was passed because of various outrageous situations, such as women giving birth in the reception area of a hospital, or patients being transferred to non-emergency care with a knife still in their back. However, for the most part, these kinds of situations were not common. Still, because it should never happen, the law basically was created that any hospital participating in Medicare benefits had to stabilize patients and release them with their consent. Hospitals or medicare professionals who do not participate in Medicare are not required to do this.
So if you are going to pass a law that pays mechanics to provide free services to seniors, and then require them to make unsafe cars safe, you might have a point. My point is simply that the human body is like a machine, and a doctor is basically a mechanic who uses his knowledge of the body and of chemistry to treat people in a way that increases their odds of recovery. People enshrine the function of medical doctors because they fear what might happen without them. At some point, we need to wake up and realize that the medical community is gouging us because of our fear of what might happen to us if they were not there. I choose not to operate by fear. I do not want to pay for the insurance executives and doctors’ mansions, fancy cars, etc.
Pete wrote: “great thing about the affordable care act (obamacare). since everyone will have a minimum of health insurance, hospitals should be paid something for the emergency room care they have been providing for free. so hospital costs should go down.”
This is a completely unrealistic expectation. Obamacare has absolutely no provisions to compensate hospitals for uncompensated emergency care. Many people will opt to pay the fine instead of buying insurance, so not everyone will have minimum health insurance as you claim. Hospitals will still jack up their rates because the insurance companies are there to pay it, and the government will give hospitals a tax write off for the people who abuse the system.
Obamacare is basically going to worsen the situation because it favors insurance companies, which are the very culprits in why medical prices are so high. If there was no such thing as insurance companies, medical services would be much lower. Nobody would pay the bills being handed out. But because of insurance, prices have escalated out of control. Now the government has basically bailed out the insurance companies through Obamacare, giving their stamp of approval to this industry, basically communicating falsely to the public that we cannot live without insurance and that they are the savior of mankind. I personally do not follow that line of thinking. When my time comes to die, I will face it with dignity, hopefully without medical doctors trying to treat me. I resent the fact that government is operating in a way to block my desire to live my life without interference from the medical community. I realize that my views are in the minority, but I think that I have the right to make these choices for myself. I wish the government would butt out of my life in the area of health care.
If the procedure were covered by insurance, the bill would have been less than half of what was charged. But in its defense, the hospital billing office probably could not locate a code for a “colonoscopy and battery.”
Why can’t I ever get a case like this?
I certainly agree with your objection of sending him the bill, but I also object to how the hospital can charge so much money … $6,000? Is that not a sum to be questioned for an examination like this? His life was not in danger. Such a high price tag indicates that the medical community is out of control with prices, and making us buy insurance in order to pay it is the wrong approach. If a mechanic sent him this bill to inspect the muffler on his car, you can bet there would be outcry about it and the bill would never get paid. We really should not treat the medical community any differently. I do not understand why they always get a free pass on gouging their customers.
Are there any laws which penalize frivolous billings? It seems that the hospital should be criminally liable for doing this since it is clearly an illegal billing. It seems near extortion and I think that such a billing could be grounds for intentional harassment and retaliation for this guy complaining about their illegal activities.
Gotta hand it to the hospitals, no matter what they do they will bill you. The good news is this is that the 6k they charged will be a pittance compared to what these a holes will be paying out in legal fees and settlements.