Man Says Hospital Forced Rectal Exam

New York construction worker sues hospital saying they gave him a rectal exam against his will.

A New York construction recently filed a lawsuit claiming that when he went to a hospital after being hit on the forehead by a falling wooden beam, the emergency room staff forcibly gave him a rectal examination.

Brian Persaud, 38, recalls that after he denied the request by New York-Presbyterian Hospital emergency room employees to examine his rectum, he was then “assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned.”

Persaud had visited the E.R for a cut over his eyebrow. His lawyer, Gerrard M. Marrone, said they later learned the rectal exam was one way of determining whether he had suffered spinal damage in the accident.

Marrone described how emergency room staffers insisted on examining his rectum and held him down while he begged, “Please don’t do that.” He explained that whilst being restrained, Persaud accidentally hit a doctor. He was forcefully administered an injection which knocked him out, Doctors then proceeded with the rectal exam.

Persaud woke up handcuffed to a bed and with an oxygen tube down his throat; he then spent three days in a detention center.
A request by the hospital to dismiss Persaud’s lawsuit was denied by Justice Alice Schlesinger, who ordered a trial to start March 31. The judge also dismissed the misdemeanor assault charge against him.

Hospital spokesman Bryan Dotson said,

“While it would be inappropriate for us to comment on specifics of the case, we believe it is completely without merit and intend to contest it vigorously.”

Persaud’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, seeks unspecified damages.

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1. 

   LR says:

   August 7, 2008 at 9:10 pm

   His lawyer, Gerrard M. Marrone, said they later learned the rectal exam was one way of determining whether he had suffered spinal damage in the accident.

   Persaud was apparently lucid enough to tell the medical personnel “please don’t do that.” Did the medical personnel explain to him why the rectal exam was necessary? I’m sure few people would enjoy having such a test performed, but judging from Persaud’ strenuous complaints, he must have some serious issues involving that area of the body. No need to go into that here. But if there were other medical tests that can be done to ascertain spinal damage – and this one wasn’t absolutely necessary – why force it, excuse the expression? If the facts as presented are true, this could easily be classified an assault and battery.

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2. 

   admin says:

   August 8, 2008 at 4:38 am

   I understand that doctors and health care professionals want the best for us, but the choice has to be left up to the patient. Health care is elective, except in the case of an emergency. This rectal exam does not seem like an emergency. It seems we people are given positions of power without checks and balances, they often abuse their position.

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