Strangers in the Middle of a City: The John and Jane Does of L.A. Medical Center
9 comments
·June 15, 2025kylehotchkiss
ethan_smith
This approach would likely be struck down as an unconstitutional pretext search violating the 4th Amendment and HIPAA patient protections.
IncreasePosts
What right do police have to ask random people to ID themselves in America?
buckle8017
Some states have stop and identify laws.
These are unquestionably unconstitutional but that's never fixed because the DA will never pursue charges.
Without charges nobody can force the issue because nobody has standing.
kylehotchkiss
Ahh I’ve seen bodycam videos from these stop and ID states where the suspect refusing to identify becomes an additional charge. Didn’t realize that CA wasn’t one (but TIL!)
dzink
The hospitals usually bear the brunt of the costs and they are then distributed as higher costs to the paying patients.
kevinventullo
Yes, if we want to live in a society where hospitals don’t throw people out to die on the street because they’re not carrying an insurance card, then someone has to pay for it.
AStonesThrow
[dead]
Couldn’t the DA’s office help “facilitate” identification by having an officer ask the patient to ID themselves, “cite” them for not identifying themselves, allowing a fingerprint read, and then deciding to “not file” or drop the case? This seems like something that’s in the best interest of the patient and the hospital.