A New York man wrongly suspected of hiding drugs in his bum was reportedly given a rectal probe - and billed for the unwanted examination. Torrence Jackson said he refused consent for the invasive procedure, and suffered internal injuries as a result.
To add insult to injury, the hospital sent 42-year-old Jackson a bill for $4,595.
The incident happened on 16 October 2017, but has only been pieced together after a review by the newspaper of police, court and medical documents. Jackson was originally stopped in his car by police after failing to signal, according to reports.
Officers found a bag of marijuana and cocaine residue in Jackson's vehicle. Police officer Anthony Fiorini said Jackson's posture in the car was consistent with someone hiding drugs in his rectum. Police also said Jackson had taunted them about having drugs concealed on his person, which he denies.
He was taken to St Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse where an X-ray found no foreign objects in his body. Despite that negative finding, police obtained a court warrant to perform a sigmoidoscopy, using a flexible 8-inch tube.
In a private conversation with the police, doctors initially refused to perform the procedure, until advised by a hospital lawyer that Jackson did not have a legal right to refuse. Jackson was forcibly sedated for the examination.
After the procedure found no drugs, Jackson was released and said he only learned what doctors had done to him when he found blood in his underwear. "I felt tampered with," he told reporters.
Upon release, the hospital had a debt collectors' agency pursue Jackson for the medical bill. He refused to pay, and the matter was ultimately dropped.
In a statement to reporters, the hospital said its officials "comply with court orders whenever they are issued for detainees who come to our hospital in police custody".
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