Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Here�s the situation:

A man makes an appointment with a family doctor to consult him on some diarrhea that the man is having. In the late afternoon, the man drives to the medical facility where the doctor has his office. On checking in it is found that the man has low blood pressure, possibly due to dehydration consequential to the diarrhea. The doctor immediately orders the nurse to start an IV in both of the man�s wrists, effectively immobilizing him. Note that no consent-to-treatment document is signed. The doctor then unilaterally decides that the man should go to the hospital emergency room and instructs the nurse to call 911 for an ambulance. When the ambulance arrives, the crew do not speak to the man at all but just strap him to a gurney and cart him off to the hospital designated by the doctor, driving past another hospital to do so; the man did not consent to this but he wasn�t asked. The hospital provides no additional treatment and the man leaves the next day. The ambulance company subsequently invoices the man for the transportation.

(1) have any crimes been committed here?

(2) is the man under any obligation to pay the ambulance company?


Asked on 8/16/10, 3:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

Well obviously they should have just let the idiot die.

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Answered on 8/21/10, 3:49 pm


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