Law enforcement and health care providers at hospital emergency rooms: questions on their abilities to treat individuals who do not desire their assistance
Tinius v. Carroll County Sheriff Dep't, 321 F. Supp. 2d 1064 (N.D. Iowa 2004)
Law enforcement officials are often the first to respond to emergent mental health crises and health care providers at hospital emergency rooms are often the first to treat an individual in the midst of a mental health crisis, frequently after a law enforcement official has brought the individual to the emergency room. Questions have arisen about their respective abilities to respond to and treat individuals who do not desire their assistance. A federal court in Iowa afforded relatively wide latitude to the law enforcement officials, but less so to emergency room health care providers...