Emergency department physicians often observed, but did not report, cases of excessive police brutality.
MedPage Today reports a small study that showed “even though 97.8% of emergency physician respondents said they had treated such cases, only 28.8% said they had reported them.”
However, some take exception (via GruntDoc) to that conclusion, questioning whether emergency doctors are qualified to make judgments regarding police brutality. “The fact is,” says physician John Ford, “such physicians are in no more of a position to assess appropriate force usage than are social workers or New York Times reporters.”
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POLICE ORGANIZATION SAYS ER DOCS SOMETIMES GIVE POOR CARE TO INJURED COPS
A survey of local police personnel reveals that many of them believe that ER physicians use the wrong type of suture in closing lacerations, prescribe incorrect antibiotics, or otherwise misuse their positions as healers when caring for their colleagues. When questioned, the police spokeperson was able to cite absolutely no data to confirm these beliefs, but she stated that “Everybody says so, especially the instructors at the Police Academy.” She added that the recipients of alleged poor care were afraid to complain, because they rely of the goodwill of the ER physicians and staff to help them when they are injured while on their beats protecting the populace.
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