5 ms·

Seems to have been settled. Found this: Mention of "Doe v. El Paso County Hospital District, et al. No. 3:13-cv-00406 (WD Tex., filed Dec. 18, 2013)" at this

by swehner 10y ago

Seems to have been settled. Found this: Mention of "Doe v. El Paso County Hospital District, et al. No. 3:13-cv-00406 (WD Tex., filed Dec. 18, 2013)" at this blog, https://holdcbpaccountable.org/category/texas/ https://holdcbpaccountable.org/category/texas/ links to "Texas Hospital Reaches $1.1 Million Settlement" http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2014/07/07/hospital-settles-with-new-mexico-woman-over-search http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2014/07/0... (July 2014) In particular, "Texas Tech University, which operates a medical school campus at the hospital [will pay] $500,000."

chris_wot 10y ago
Happened in Albuquerque too. An earlier HN story is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7123442 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7123442 The follow up articles are here: http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/16/nation/la-na-nn-new-mexico-police-search-20140116 http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/16/nation/la-na-nn-new-... The poor guy one $1.6 million - and I'm not saying this sarcastically. I was absolutely outraged what they did to him, it was tantamount to rape. Disturbingly, the police officers who forced the illegal probe are still employed: https://www.rt.com/usa/163428-nm-cops-jobs-anal-probes/ https://www.rt.com/usa/163428-nm-cops-jobs-anal-probes/ These officers should have been thrown into jail, and each one of the medical staff who participated struck off.
- Roboprog 10y ago
  Wow. So in both cases, money was squeezed out of somewhere that should have been providing actual services (hospitals), but the actual thugs had little to no consequences, at least not yet. Sad.
  - chris_wot 10y ago
    These situations need to be taken as criminal acts. There should be jail time, and real and direct consequences for those who take part. If people who do these things can do them with impunity, then they are likely to do them again and again. And the system, already teetering on the brink, will go right over.
shimon 10y ago
"The hospital said it will pay $125,000, its insurance carrier $475,000 and Texas Tech University, which operates a medical school campus at the hospital, $500,000." If I understand correctly, this means the hospital and affiliated entities have settled for a total of $1.1M. AFAICT the CBP & agents are still defending.
mapt 10y ago
And that's good and fine, on the civil side in the specific suit against the hospital. Unfortunately, there are some criminal statutes that appear to have been violated by all concerned and some professional medical codes that have been violated by individual doctors; There is tampering with federal evidence (prompting the dog) in order to falsify probable cause. There is also the matter of precedential rulings associated with the guidance given border control officers on how far to go. Of five matters of concern, the least pressing to us has been settled out of court without the benefit of an enjoiner against future repetition of the abuses by the hospital (in re: rules that permit participation in a kidnapping and rape of a captive). My expectation is that a $1M reward is not especially protective to the rest of us, when it's our turn to be kidnapped and raped as some kind of practice exercise of authority. I am less worried about the hospital than the men with guns and dogs, however the fact that the hospital has a goddamned specialized billing procedure associated with torture of unwilling captives of a rogue federal agency worries me. Justice has not been done yet; Generally by my limited understanding a Bivens Action is only filed when justice is limited in availability by a whole arm of the government who are denying any wrongdoing and prosecutors who are refusing to operate in accordance with their duties to the people.
- rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
  The solution quite simple: when the suspect had evidence of wrongdoing (drugs, etc), they pay for the cost of the procedure. When the suspect does not have evidence of a crime, they should be reimbursed. I am all right with a legitimate search warrant giving law enforcement the right to tear my house inside and out, but after it is established that they found nothing, I can bill them for the clean-up, as well as any lost time from work. To me the biggest problem with law enforcement today is that there is no punishment for being wrong, even when lives and families can be shredded in the process. We have malpractice insurance for doctors, why not cops?
  - r00fus 10y ago
    Also the cops and doctors who were committing unethical acts as part of this scam should be disciplined and/or removed from duty. Am I too far off base?
kafkaesq 10y ago
No, it hasn't been "settled." It won't be until the perpetrators have been held responsible for the crime they committed: 2 counts of aggregated sexual assault (for the forced voyeuristic inspection of her lower parts, and the forced bowel movement), and a further account forced sodomy with a foreign object. That means jail time; lifelong bans from participation in any form of law enforcement (or private security detail); and of course, a very prominent place on local and national sex offender registries (which I'm normally against -- but I make an exception for egregious acts of sexual assault and indecency enacted by government officials). Fines? Against an institution? That's just a number on some spreadsheet somewhere.
- swehner 10y ago
  You have a point there -- the problem goes beyond the victim of this case.

by swehner 10y ago

chris_wot 10y ago

Happened in Albuquerque too. An earlier HN story is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7123442 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7123442 The follow up articles are here: http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/16/nation/la-na-nn-new-mexico-police-search-20140116 http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/16/nation/la-na-nn-new-... The poor guy one $1.6 million - and I'm not saying this sarcastically. I was absolutely outraged what they did to him, it was tantamount to rape. Disturbingly, the police officers who forced the illegal probe are still employed: https://www.rt.com/usa/163428-nm-cops-jobs-anal-probes/ https://www.rt.com/usa/163428-nm-cops-jobs-anal-probes/ These officers should have been thrown into jail, and each one of the medical staff who participated struck off.

Roboprog 10y ago
Wow. So in both cases, money was squeezed out of somewhere that should have been providing actual services (hospitals), but the actual thugs had little to no consequences, at least not yet. Sad.
- chris_wot 10y ago
  These situations need to be taken as criminal acts. There should be jail time, and real and direct consequences for those who take part. If people who do these things can do them with impunity, then they are likely to do them again and again. And the system, already teetering on the brink, will go right over.

shimon 10y ago

"The hospital said it will pay $125,000, its insurance carrier $475,000 and Texas Tech University, which operates a medical school campus at the hospital, $500,000." If I understand correctly, this means the hospital and affiliated entities have settled for a total of $1.1M. AFAICT the CBP & agents are still defending.

mapt 10y ago

And that's good and fine, on the civil side in the specific suit against the hospital. Unfortunately, there are some criminal statutes that appear to have been violated by all concerned and some professional medical codes that have been violated by individual doctors; There is tampering with federal evidence (prompting the dog) in order to falsify probable cause. There is also the matter of precedential rulings associated with the guidance given border control officers on how far to go. Of five matters of concern, the least pressing to us has been settled out of court without the benefit of an enjoiner against future repetition of the abuses by the hospital (in re: rules that permit participation in a kidnapping and rape of a captive). My expectation is that a $1M reward is not especially protective to the rest of us, when it's our turn to be kidnapped and raped as some kind of practice exercise of authority. I am less worried about the hospital than the men with guns and dogs, however the fact that the hospital has a goddamned specialized billing procedure associated with torture of unwilling captives of a rogue federal agency worries me. Justice has not been done yet; Generally by my limited understanding a Bivens Action is only filed when justice is limited in availability by a whole arm of the government who are denying any wrongdoing and prosecutors who are refusing to operate in accordance with their duties to the people.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
The solution quite simple: when the suspect had evidence of wrongdoing (drugs, etc), they pay for the cost of the procedure. When the suspect does not have evidence of a crime, they should be reimbursed. I am all right with a legitimate search warrant giving law enforcement the right to tear my house inside and out, but after it is established that they found nothing, I can bill them for the clean-up, as well as any lost time from work. To me the biggest problem with law enforcement today is that there is no punishment for being wrong, even when lives and families can be shredded in the process. We have malpractice insurance for doctors, why not cops?
- r00fus 10y ago
  Also the cops and doctors who were committing unethical acts as part of this scam should be disciplined and/or removed from duty. Am I too far off base?

kafkaesq 10y ago

No, it hasn't been "settled." It won't be until the perpetrators have been held responsible for the crime they committed: 2 counts of aggregated sexual assault (for the forced voyeuristic inspection of her lower parts, and the forced bowel movement), and a further account forced sodomy with a foreign object. That means jail time; lifelong bans from participation in any form of law enforcement (or private security detail); and of course, a very prominent place on local and national sex offender registries (which I'm normally against -- but I make an exception for egregious acts of sexual assault and indecency enacted by government officials). Fines? Against an institution? That's just a number on some spreadsheet somewhere.

swehner 10y ago
You have a point there -- the problem goes beyond the victim of this case.