If the person who cuts Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, or Trump’s hair was offered a huge amount of money by some tabloid to get a sample of their hair so that it could be drug tested or tested for paternity reasons, would the barber be breaking the law? There is no doctor/patient privilege. And cut hair could be considered trash and I believe you are allowed to go through someone’s trash. Granted, that even if something came up positive, it would be hard to prove. But if the paper printed it, it would be hard for the person to sue, since he would probably have to submit another sample to the court.
I believe that you need to pull hair out by the root if you want to perform a DNA test on it. So if the barber can explain why he/she is yanking out hairs rather than cutting them, he/she might be onto something.
That wouldn’t be too hard. Brush the hair, and you’ll get a few that fall out naturally in the brush. Though you’d then have to worry about contamination from someone else’s hair: I doubt barbers actually clean out every single hair from their brush between clients.
A new brush would cost what?? 4 or 5 bucks?
But if the barber is planning on selling the hair, he’d use a new comb or brush.
I was about to say the same, but apparently that is no longer the case. Technology has advanced enough to test the DNA fragments remaining in the hair shaft. A lock of Bill’s hair should be enough of a source for a test.
Here are a few possible legal theories, and my musings on them:
Conversion: The issue is whether you retain any ownership interest in the hair removed from your head at the barber. The answer is “probably not,” since body parts left behind are generally considered abandoned.
Battery: The issue is whether you’ve consented to a barber touching you and removing your hair for the purpose of testing it when you consent to get a hair cut. Probably not. This would be not much different from a doctor touching you for pleasure when you only gave consent to an exam.
Fraud: If the barber intended to use your hair for drug or paternity testing and failed to tell you this, this is arguably a pretty significant omission from your commercial relationship. The precise elements of fraud differ from state to state.
The developing tort of “intrusion upon seclusion” may be something to look into.
https://cyber.harvard.edu/privacy/Privacy_R2d_Torts_Sections.htm
So… same question about Clinton/Trump’s bikini waxer?
Trump wouldn’t complain. He’s probably not even in the room when his hair gets cut.
ARGH!!
< falls over from shock >
For your doctor’s example, isn’t there a difference between a doctor that might happen to get, say, sexually aroused when performing a specific medical procedure that they would have done anyway and a doctor who intentionally recommends a medically unnecessary procedure in order to perform such touching?
Going back to the barber question, do barbers have professional ethics requirements that go beyond ordinary criminal and civil law? This sounds like something that could be one of those legal-but-unethical things that is under the jurisdiction of professional licensure boards rather than criminal or civil courts.
A musician friend of mine probably qualified as a legitimate D-List celebrity when she was at the height of her career. Her fan base was small but it was international and very enthusiastic.
Once, after getting a hair cut while on the road touring, someone brought it to her attention that her hair cuttings showed up for sale on eBay. She didn’t follow up on it at all- much to my disappointment, I really wanted to know if anyone bought and at what price- she was just creeped out by it and moved on.
Not sure if she’d have had grounds to press any charges. Like I said, she never followed up on it.
If you’re testing for drugs, you’re not going to be performing a DNA test on the hair anyway.
Here’s a case where something like the OP hypothetical occurred. It was sold to a collector and not for analysis. I don’t know how it was resolved, I believe that the defendants made a donation to charity to settle the dispute.
Doesn’t patient confidentiality cover this? Arising from the days when barbers were not just barbers but barber-surgeons?
Not sure if serious.
In 2005 Neil Armstrong sued his barber after he (the barber) tried to sell his hair.
So far as the handling of the sample, might want to research the words: chain of custody procedures for drug testing
And anyone cutting the hair of big shots would see their business wrecked if it was made known they were giving away hair samples of their clients. Their other customers would most likely be big shots as well - and those people HIGHLY value their privacy. So any payment for such a “taking of hair” would need to be large enough so the barber/hair stylist would not need to work again for the rest of his/her life!