Lorain settlement with Mercy Health to cost $75,000

LORAIN — Mercy Health - Lorain, the city and county reached a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit filed by the hospital late last year that will cost the city $75,000. On Dec. 31, Mercy Health filed a civil rights lawsuit against Lorain, Lorain County and individual city and county officials for alleged discrimination and retaliation against the religious hospital and its doctors after it refused to perform invasive exams on a man expected to have illicit narcotics in his rectum. On Monday Lorain's Board of Control — made up of Mayor Jack Bradley and Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion — approved the settlement agreement. The city will pay $75,000 to the hospital; Lorain will be reimbursed for the sum by its insurance. The sum does not have to go to City Council for approval. The settlement, while signed by all parties in the suit, is not finalized until Mercy Health receives the funds from the city and the lawsuit is dismissed in federal court. "I'm glad that we have a good relationship with our hospital and (largest) employer in Lorain," Bradley said. Body cavity search procedures Part of the settlement includes an agreement previously reached between the county prosecutor's office to establish formal guidelines for body cavity searches and any removal of evidence from detainees or suspects. A search warrant for a body cavity search was the crux of the original lawsuit. Tony Harris, 31, of Lorain, was the back seat passenger of a vehicle stopped by members of Lorain police's Patrol Impact Team in August after allegedly leaving a known drug area. According to the initial incident report, officers felt a "foreign object" in Harris' groin area on a physical pat down. During a strip search at the Lorain police department officers reportedly saw a foreign item at "the entrance of his anus," and a body scanner at the Lorain County Jail found a "non-anatomical object near his rectum." Police took Harris to Mercy Hospital - Lorain for evaluation. Officers obtained the first body cavity search warrant and hospital staff conducted a CT scan that reportedly showed a foreign object inside Harris. Harris, still in police custody while a patient at Mercy hospital, refused further medical imaging and Mercy Health staff refused to manually examine or remove the item. A second seach warrant directed to specific doctors and other emergency department physicians, demanded Mercy Health staff to manually examine or remove the item, which its staff refused. Harris was released from the hospital several days after he was first admitted; at no time were any illicit substances recovered from inside his rectum. He was charged with tampering with evidence. His next court date is June 6 with a trial date of June 23. As part of the settlement agreement, the body cavity agreement between Mercy and the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office outlines requirements for the hospital when a suspect is brought to them. It requires police departments to obtain a valid search warrant directed to Mercy Health and its Chief Medical Officer and that Mercy Health must obtain a detainee's informed consent for the search. The agreement allows Mercy Health staff to determine if a body cavity search is feasible in terms of risk to the detainee and hospital staff and whether a search adheres to medical standards of care and any ethical or religious directives for the Catholic hospital. According to the agreement, if a Mercy Health physician determines the demands of a body cavity search warrant cannot be met, the hospital will document it and contact its legal counsel to asset a conscience-based objection to the warrant. The agreement bars Mercy Health or its physicians from being civilly, criminally or administratively liable for holding a conscience-based objecting to conducting a search. The Prosecutor's Office agrees to only seek a search warrant when necessary and when there is probable cause. It also requires law enforcement to allow for less invasive measures like CT scans or holding a detainee for observation. Any costs for Mercy Health's services to conduct a body cavity search will be insured by the law enforcement agency that brings a detainee to the hospital. Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo declined to comment on the agreement. Mercy Health Police Department The agreement also reinstates Mercy Health - Lorain's police department. LPD Chief Jim McCann terminated his department's agreement with Mercy Health - Lorain on Jan. 1 after notifying him of his plans in November. The agreement had been in place since 2018. The new agreement, effective May 8, allows Mercy Health police to operate as law enforcement on Mercy's property and outlines several requirements for both parties. It requires Mercy police to have an Ohio Police Officers Training Academy-certified chief with sole authority over the department's decisions, functions and responsibilities. The current Mercy Police Chief has been granted a waiver for the certification requirement, per the agreement. The agreement requires Mercy police to provide LPD with information on its officers, including their qualification and certification to carry a firearm, and notify LPD of any terminations, resignations or retirements of Mercy officers. It requires Mercy Health to conduct a comprehensive law enforcement background check of all its applications, and provide those to LPD. It also requires Mercy police to use LPD's records management system and enter criminal case and arrest reports into it. Lorain police will provide Mercy police with five initial L3 Harris radios for the two departments to communicate during emergencies; Mercy police will be responsible for purchasing any additional equipment. The agreement will automatically renew every two years unless either party terminates it or either party breaches the contract. If the contract is breached there will be a 30-day "cure period" to amend any issue, followed by a meeting between the two chiefs to resolve it. If a resolution cannot be reached, or there are multiple breaches of contract or issues within 90 days, it will be up to Lorain's chief of police to decide whether to terminate the agreement, according to the settlement. Lorain Police Deputy Chief Michael Failing declined to comment. Failing is acting head of the city's police department while Chief Jim McCann is on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. Mercy Health - Lorain declined to comment on the settlement until the matter is fully resolved in court. Spokeswoman Kara Carter said Mercy Health - Lorain stands by a prior joint statement with the city and county when it reached a settlement agreement in March, which called the agreement "fair and mutually satisfactory" and thanked the local and federal judges for their efforts to spur the resolution. The final settlement agreement must be filed with Judge Philip Calabrese by May 15. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com