This is a head scratcher for sure. I’ve been in quite a few hospitals. I go to several outpatient clinics at the Arkansas Med Center. The bathrooms are quite large. Nobody pays any attention when somebody enters one.
Why is Security monitoring bathroom use?
Especially to the extent of dispatching an officer to the doorway?
What thought went into this policy?
Why wasn’t this immediately rectified with an apology to a legitimate guest at their hospital?
I’d guess that they have issues with homeless people loitering in the buildings. Security quickly learns and recognizes the people that persists in doing that.
This lady was there to visit a family member. She had every right to be there. I’m quite surprised she even asked permission. I’ve never felt a need to ask to use a public restroom. You look for the sign and walk in.
Even worse, University Hospitals are public facilities associated with a public University. Paid for, in part by our tax dollars.
Well, that’s her problem right there, she should have asked “May I use the bathroom?” We all learn that by the 2nd grade. And don’t forget your hall pass.
I suppose it’s possible they have restrooms for staff and restrooms for visitors and Evans used a staff-only restroom. But if she was given permission to do so by an employee, it seems like that would cover her.
I’m not going to comment on the ethics of the situation, but just that it appears that you only read one side of what’s going on.
The thought process is that the bathrooms are for staff, patients and visitors only, of which she was none. Some further reading will show you that the person she was visiting wasn’t at that location.
“Tameka Evans says she went to see her uncle, Alton Walker, at Emory University Hospital Midtown and found out he had been moved to another hospital”
While not an apology, every article I’ve read has a quote from the group stating that they’ll look into this and work to improve these types of situations.
The quote from the hospital group explicitly states that it is private property. Being paid, in part, by tax dollars means they can’t turn people away that need medical attention not that they’re public property that anyone can hang out at for any reason at all and do anything they want.
Furthermore, it’s staffed by a University. The Emory University School of Medicine, which is a private school. It’s associated with Emory Heathcare which is non-profit, but I’m not sure if that makes a difference.
IOW, from what I can tell, they don’t have any legal obligation to let you onto their property unless you’re at risk of dying and need emergency services.
I suspect there is more to the story, if she walked in, realized her uncle wasn’t there and stopped to go to the bathroom on the way out, even if she technically shouldn’t have, they probably would have let her leave without giving it a second thought. Maybe they’ve been having a problem, as you said, maybe they had a problem with her, specifically, and just wanted her out. My guess is that the only way we’ll hear more about it is if she makes a fuss and forces their hand into explaining exactly what lead up to it.
Of course, it could be nothing more than an over zealous security guard. We’ll probably never know.
A security guard telling her she shouldn’t have been using the loo does NOT equal the woman being given a ‘notice of trespassing’. The latter is a formal warrant (at least here in Aus), the former is just a dickhead bouncer giving her a hard time.
Although it wasn’t a ticket, and not legally enforceable, she was handed a written notice of trespassing issued by the hospital. Presumably, they felt it would cover their asses if she returned to the hospital and they decided to call the police.
Where I live, and presumably where she lives, once I tell someone they have to leave my property, they’re trespassing the next time they come back. Based on that, how is the notice not legally enforceable. She signed someone agreeing not to come back on to the property. Seems that’s even more enforceable than if they had just told her to leave and not come back.
Poor choice of words. What I meant was, it wasn’t a ticket issued by the police or other law enforcement authority. However, yes, it is a legal notice. Of course, if she returned again, and the police were called, they do have a right to cite or arrest her for trespass.
In my book, if she was there to visit her uncle, then she’s a visitor, even if he’s been moved out and (absent any other information about her having been badly behaved) deserves an apology.
Having said that, it’s easy to see how something like this could happen from sheer common-or-garden fuckup.
“Hey Nurse - that lady who just walked into the restroom, who’s she here to visit?”
She was a visitor at the hospital. Her uncle had been there, they let her in the door to start with. She was not trespassing. She ought to sue them into the ground.
Yes, but she didn’t know that until she went there and found that he had been moved. To say that “she wasn’t a visitor” is extremely pedantic. Furthermore, she got permission from the desk to use the bathroom.
I’ve read what I could find on the internet, and nothing seems to give “the other side”, but if the situation is accurately stated, it’s hard to imagine a likely situation that doesn’t look bad for the hospital – this is a six month’s pregnant woman (who doesn’t have much bladder space – her interior real estate is being used by the baby. ) Pregnant women have to urinate frequently, as a hospital should be amply aware of.
Moreover, she didn’t simply use the bathroom, but asked permission.
Finally, unless this was some sort of special bathroom, I can’t see why it should be sequestered. Regardless of whether it’s a private or public facility, I’ve never encountered a hospital in which access to the restrooms is restricted. At all.
So you can say “you don’t know the whole story”, but unless the lady and the news media are grossly misstating the situation, this looks pretty indefensible. Even if the notice she received wasn’t a “ticket”, it’s highly intimidating.
Why the hell do they even have such things printed up and at the ready? Something fishy here.
MY WAG - the hospital has a problem with people coming in off the street to use the bathroom, perhaps for less than savory purposes. As I understand it, hospitals in inner cities often have that kind of problem. To combat this, they’ve stationed a security guard in front of the restrooms to keep out the riff-raff, and given him these forms to hand out to scare off people from trying again.
Sue them for what? You’re right, she wasn’t trespassing, she’d be trespassing next time. For whatever reason they didn’t want her there (her specifically or ‘her’ generally) and they let her know it in writing.
I agree with everything you’ve said. It’s pedantic to call her ‘not a visitor’ (which I did), but when dealing with legal issues, that’s what this is going to get into sooner or later.
She did get permission, but also, she didn’t get into any trouble, she was told not to come back.
As for her being pregnant and it being a hospital so of course they should know she needs to go to the bathroom, she was dealing with security, not medical staff.
And like I said earlier unless it was just a guard on a power trip, there’s probably another side to this.
I’m not sure why you’d have an issue with them having these forms ready to go, it’s not like they’re waiting for people to come out of the bathroom to hand them out. They might also use them as an easy way to get kids to stop skateboarding on the loading dock or get junkies out of the parking structure. As a private security firm that’s about all they can do before calling the police. It’s a good first step so when they do call the police they can hand that over to show that the person has already been notified X times to leave the property.
She can sue them for anything a lawyer can dream up. I know she won’t win anything more than a token award or maybe get a small settlement at best. The important thing to do (assuming this story is even true) is to get an apology and get the hospital to stop being idiots. I understand the problem, people coming off the street to use the bathrooms, it’s a real security concern at a hospital, but their solution is half-assed.
