Yesterday, a jury found that Brian Persaud's Rectal Exam lawsuit was unjustified.

Let's look at the facts.  He was a construction worker who had been hit on the head and was taken to an emergency room for treatment.  He required eight stitches to close the wound in his head.  The doctors then decided to do a rectal exam.  Mr. Persaud refused.  He was assaulted by the staff.  He fought back and hit a doctor.  They injected him with an anesthetic.  They began the rectal exam but did not finish it.  They handcuffed him to a bed.  When he awoke from the anesthesia, he was arrested.

There has been a fair amount of comment about this on the web as of this writing.  But what I do not see is any comment from the medical community about the requirement of a rectal exam for spinal injuries.  That is because there is none.  The only way to confirm a spinal  injury without symptoms is with an X-ray.  That is why the doctors did not finish the rectal exam.

One thing I'm amazed at is that Mr. Persaud was charged with assault when he was trying to defend himself against a gang.  That would be like charging a woman with assault if she fought back against a man who was trying to rape her.

But here is the most frightening thing about the whole attack.  The jury denied Mr. Persaud justice.  I will grant the jury this: one can come to a conclusion only by looking at the facts presented.  I will surmise that they didn't have all the facts.

Mr. Persaud, however, suffered a half-rectal exam at the hands of the medical system.  The justice system however failed him.