What were the cops supposed to do when the hospital called them? Refuse to remove her, saying “We’re leaving her here because we know health care better than you do”?
called paramedics...
Actually they could have refused to move her, had the cops instituted a policy and had trained medics or RN’s on staff to actually examine the patient and over-rule the hospital. Now I’m not blaming the police dept for not having said personnel. The average cop is going to trust the sending hospital doctors if they are claiming the patient is malingering. The hospital needs to take 80 per cent of the blame.
The cops didn’t have to take the patient if it was obvious that the patient is in distress. In the end it was the hospital’s duty to see that the patient was released in a way that was deemed safe and stable for the patient. The cops aren’t the patient disposal unit of last resort, but they could use some paramedical training and support so that if something seemed amiss the officer on scene could have told the hospital to blow sand!