Walk It Through: The Hospital

A custody that is not an arrest, a record, a bill, and the rights that stay with the resident.

An officer says you are not under arrest, and also that you are coming with him to the hospital.

The full hearing under chapter 5122 and what a court may order at it, the fee schedule for copies in section 3701.741 and the federal privacy rule's separate timetable, a hospital's own financial assistance policy and the physician and ambulance bills that arrive separately, and the notice and appeal that precede a nursing home transfer are not covered here. Ohio's long term care ombudsman investigates complaints at no charge and is usually the first place a concern goes.

A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.

Words this turns on

Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.

25 words

Administrative warrantA document issued by an agency rather than by a court. An immigration detainer and a warrant for arrest of an alien are both signed inside the agency, by an officer or a supervisor.
Consensual encounterAn officer speaking to a person without having stopped them. No suspicion of any kind is required, because legally nothing has happened yet.
CustodyFormal arrest, or a restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with a formal arrest. It is the condition that, combined with questioning, triggers the Miranda warnings.
Deadly forceForce likely to cause death or serious physical harm. Against a fleeing person it is unreasonable unless the officer has probable cause to believe that person poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury.
Direct threatA significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by a reasonable modification. Where one exists, the modification is not required.
Duty to discloseThe obligation on somebody carrying a concealed handgun to tell an officer about it during a stop. The 2022 amendment tied the duty to the officer asking.
Effective communicationThe requirement that a public entity communicate with a person with a disability as effectively as it communicates with anyone else, furnishing auxiliary aids and services where they are needed. The entity must give primary consideration to what the person asks for.
Emergency hospitalizationCustody and transport to a hospital for examination, on a belief that a person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if left at liberty. Police are one of several who may do it.
FriskA pat of the outer clothing for weapons, allowed during a lawful stop when the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is armed and dangerous. It is a search for weapons, not for evidence.
Interfering, as distinct from recordingObstructing official business needs an act that hampers or impedes a public official, done with the purpose of preventing or delaying the work. Recording is not that act.
InterrogationExpress questioning, or words and actions an officer should know are reasonably likely to draw an incriminating response. Both halves count.
Investigative detentionA brief seizure of a person on reasonable suspicion, lasting only as long as it takes to confirm or dispel that suspicion. The person is not free to leave, and is not under arrest either.
Invoking counselStating unambiguously that you want a lawyer, which is what stops custodial questioning. Asking whether one is needed, or whether asking for one looks bad, is not the same as asking for one.
Minor misdemeanorThe bottom rung of the Ohio code. No jail term at all, a fine capped at one hundred and fifty dollars, and a section that says an officer shall issue a citation rather than arrest unless one of four exceptions applies.
Objective reasonablenessThe standard for force used during a stop or an arrest. Judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene at the moment, weighing the severity of the offence, any immediate threat, and whether the person was resisting or fleeing.
Plain feelDuring a lawful weapons frisk, an object whose identity as contraband is immediately apparent from the pat itself may be seized. The knowledge has to come from the lawful pat, not from manipulating the object.
Probable causeFacts that would lead a reasonable person to believe a crime has been committed and that this person committed it. It is the threshold for an arrest and for a search warrant.
Reasonable expectation of privacyWhether a person expected privacy in a place or thing and whether society recognises that expectation. It is the threshold question for whether something counts as a search at all.
Reasonable modificationA change to a policy, practice or procedure that a public entity must make where the change is needed to avoid discriminating on the basis of disability. A police department is a public entity.
Reasonable suspicionSpecific facts an officer can put into words that point to a particular person being involved in a particular crime. It is the threshold for a brief investigative stop.
Search incident to arrestA search of the arrested person and the area within their reach, permitted automatically on a lawful arrest to protect officers and preserve evidence.
Secondary enforcementA violation an officer may cite but may not stop a vehicle for on its own. Ohio's occupant restraint section is written this way, and it bars the stop, the citation for that sole purpose, and viewing the interior for that sole purpose.
Seizure of a personThe moment a person is no longer free to leave, by physical force or by a show of authority they submit to. Everything the Fourth Amendment requires starts counting from that moment.
The equipment basisAn equipment provision used as the lawful basis for a stop. A plate light that does not render the plate legible from fifty feet, a missing headlight, glass below the transmittance the administrative rule sets.
Using, holding or physically supportingThe conduct the driving device section prohibits, written around the body rather than the screen. Using, holding, or physically supporting an electronic wireless communications device with any part of the person's body while operating a motor vehicle.