# Woman given notice of trespassing, for using restroom at Emory University Hospital. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 18, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896 "2017-05-18T04:44:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/21 "2017-05-18T13:51:12Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > 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. > . Security staff who works in a hospital. It’s not a big leap to expect him to know about pregnant women and bathrooms. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/22 "2017-05-18T14:43:59Z")
Sounds like she was profiled as “riffraff” and decided to let the media know about it. Good for her. Perhaps this will cause other establishments to act more judiciously in the future. With all the talk about access to healthcare, it’s sad that even restroom access might be too lofty of an expectation from hospitals nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/23 "2017-05-18T14:45:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > She can sue them for anything a lawyer can dream up. If you’re going to play that game I might as well sue them because, um, I put my shirt on inside out this morning. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Security staff who works in a hospital. It’s not a big leap to expect him to know about pregnant women and bathrooms. Security staff is probably a third party hired by the hospital. I’d be willing to bet they have less medical training then than even janitorial staff that is employed by the hospital. A guard making laps around the hospital tonight might have been working at the mall last week. It’s not a big leap to expect a them to know that pregnant women need to use the bathroom often, but it’s not a big leap to expect that from the general population, but even so, how much medical training do you think hospital security guards get? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/24 "2017-05-18T14:53:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Security staff who works in a hospital. It’s not a big leap to expect him to know about pregnant women and bathrooms. Even if she wasn’t pregnant, people have a legitimate need to relieve themselves. Sometimes holding it is not an option. I’m sure we’ve all been there at least once in our lives. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/25 "2017-05-18T15:00:22Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you’re going to play that game I might as well sue them because, um, I put my shirt on inside out this morning. You can. But you saw the rest of my response, it’s about getting the problem fixed. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/26 "2017-05-18T17:49:03Z")
I was vaugely aware of Emory University because of their connection to the Carter Center. An organization that’s done a lot of good work. > **[Carter Center](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Center)** > > The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidential election. The center is located in a shared building adjacent to the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum on 37 acres (150,000 m2) of parkland, on the site of the razed neighborhood of Copenhill, two miles (3 km) from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The library a... I hope the hospital makes an effort to fix their problem with enforcing security. A good start would be a formal apology. This lady deserved to be treated with respect. I suspect she isn’t the only hospital visitor that has run afoul of security at that hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/27 "2017-05-18T21:27:41Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Security staff is probably a third party hired by the hospital. I’d be willing to bet they have less medical training then than even janitorial staff that is employed by the hospital. A guard making laps around the hospital tonight might have been working at the mall last week. > It’s not a big leap to expect a them to know that pregnant women need to use the bathroom often, but it’s not a big leap to expect that from the general population, but even so, how much medical training do you think hospital security guards get? “We hired people unable to do the job correctly and didn’t train them or even request that they show common decency” is a poor legal defense and a worse defense in the court of public opinion. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/28 "2017-05-18T21:52:50Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > “We hired people unable to do the job correctly and didn’t train them or even request that they show common decency” is a poor legal defense and a worse defense in the court of public opinion. I have a lot of experience with hospitals and I’d bet that some overpaid hospital administrator came up with this plan in between attending conferences, planning how to spend a $1 million on a new lobby, and making sure they had a prime parking spot in the garage. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/29 "2017-05-18T22:02:04Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > 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. Security guard: " I don’t know, CAN you?!?!" ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/30 "2017-05-18T22:03:45Z")
We may indeed not have the full story. But, from what we do have, the hospital is in the wrong, and pulling out trespassing law doesn’t change that. Yes, they can kick you out, but it’s shitty for them to do so in this situation. It’s one thing to make sure homeless people aren’t sleeping there (as that can be a health hazard) but another to threaten people for using the restroom. If it turns out there’s more to the story, we can change our minds on new information. No need to take up for the apparent bad guys. It’s not as if **aceplace** is using this as a way to paint all hospital workers as bad guys. Oh, and, while I said what I said about homeless people sleeping there, I absolutely do not support treating homeless people differently, let alone people who you think are “riff-raff.” And, if you don’t provide public restrooms within walking distance, then I think you should need to allow people, even homeless people, to use restrooms of places open to the public. A hospital should be even better about this than a local business. Because, if they can’t, then you’re gonna have defecating on the street–a health hazard. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/31 "2017-05-19T00:38:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > We may indeed not have the full story. But, from what we do have, the hospital is in the wrong, and pulling out trespassing law doesn’t change that. Yes, they can kick you out, but it’s shitty for them to do so in this situation. It’s one thing to make sure homeless people aren’t sleeping there (as that can be a health hazard) but another to threaten people for using the restroom. To be clear, when you say ‘the hospital is in the wrong’, what you mean is that legally they’re in the right, but ethically, in your opinion, they’re in the wrong. Is that fair? ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/32 "2017-05-19T01:47:15Z")
As for the “It’s a public hospital paid for by our tax dollars”, that doesn’t mean anyone can come in just to use their toilets. The hospital is there to treat sick and injured people, not to be a public restroom. The National Cancer Center near my office is also paid for with tax money, but they have a sign by the entrance specifically saying that their bathrooms are for people with business at the hospital (there’s a major tourist spot across the street and the tour buses often unload by the hospital. Apparently they were having trouble with crowds of tourists walking through the lobby just to take a leak). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/33 "2017-05-19T03:37:11Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you’re going to play that game I might as well sue them because, um, I put my shirt on inside out this morning. Go for it. It’s about time somebody stood up to Big Shirt. But realistically, if you’re going to sue somebody you either need a lot money to pay for a lawyer’s services or you need a decent enough case that a lawyer will be willing to work on it on contingency. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/34 "2017-05-19T04:06:53Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I have a lot of experience with hospitals and I’d bet that some overpaid hospital administrator came up with this plan in between attending conferences, planning how to spend a $1 million on a new lobby, and making sure they had a prime parking spot in the garage. I lost a lot of respect for the CEO of a local hospital system when I met him and his wife at a Christmas party, and she told me that when they sold their previous house to move here, they were $140,000 underwater on the mortgage and she talked about it like it was pocket change. :rolleyes: There has to be more to this story; truthfully, I wonder if she was causing some kind of trouble that hasn’t been discussed yet. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/35 "2017-05-19T04:30:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Go for it. It’s about time somebody stood up to Big Shirt. > > But realistically, if you’re going to sue somebody you either need a lot money to pay for a lawyer’s services or you need a decent enough case that a lawyer will be willing to work on it on contingency. So you find the lawyer that will take on the case for free and sue the hospital for…what? That’s all I was asking. TriPolar said she should sue them into the ground and when I asked what she should sue them form he responded “anything a lawyer can dream up”. My first thought was to bring up money, as you did, but I went the other route instead. I asked a direct question. What should she sue them for? She asked if she could use the bathroom, was given permission and upon exiting the bathroom was told she couldn’t come back. Assuming no other backstory, I’m not sure what she would be taking them to court for. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/36 "2017-05-19T08:03:36Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > “We hired people unable to do the job correctly and didn’t train them or even request that they show common decency” is a poor legal defense and a worse defense in the court of public opinion. Finding security guards who possess common decency or common sense is a crap shot at best. I worked in campus security while going through school About half were students and were alright. The other half were lifers. It was scary that people like that exist in the world. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/37 "2017-05-19T12:09:19Z")
Let me guess. Some executive shit head walked into the bathroom and saw it was dirty. Threw a big stink(hehe) and somebody said it was probably a visitor. Shit head then issues a memo that bathrooms are off limits to visitors and order security to stand guard. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/38 "2017-05-19T22:04:14Z")
I have two questions: What color is she? And how did the security guard even know her uncle was no longer in that hospital? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/39 "2017-05-19T22:37:16Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I have two questions: What color is she? And how did the security guard even know her uncle was no longer in that hospital? Now we’re getting to the meat of this. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896/40 "2017-05-20T21:59:04Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There has to be more to this story; truthfully, I wonder if she was causing some kind of trouble that hasn’t been discussed yet. :dubious: I’m wondering if the hospital has a policy requiring visitors to wear guest badges, and the woman in question didn’t have one. Still they could have handled it better. What’s more, IME guest badges are commonly required to access patient floors and treatment areas, like the actual behind the double doors; but not for accessing “public” areas on the first floor and basements. The ER waiting room frequently opens onto the main floor of the hospital, with its reception desk, gift shops, Starbucks concession, etc. The main cafeteria is usually downstairs on a basement level, frequently a corridor or two away from the elevator landing. So are we coming to a point where visitors will get harassed by security guards while trying to find their way from the ER waiting room to the Starbucks concession? Remember, probably half the people in the ER waiting room are really only visitors or guests, not patients. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-given-notice-of-trespassing-for-using-restroom-at-emory-university-hospital/786896.md?page=3)