DES MOINES – A Clear Lake woman found to be in possession of an illegal narcotic as she was admitted to Mercy Hospital lost her appeal in the case.
Michele Lee Secory-Monson of Clear Lake appealed her conviction of possession of marijuana, challenging the district court’s denial of her motion to suppress evidence obtained by police during the course of transport to a hospital for an involuntary commitment.
According to court records, a Cerro Gordo deputy transported Secory-Monson to a hospital under Iowa code, providing for involuntary commitment for treatment of a person with a substance-related disorder. The deputy located Secory-Monson at a private residence, served her with a copy of the court order, and drove her to the hospital. At the hospital, the deputy escorted Secory-Monson to the emergency room and remained with her until she was admitted to a locked psychiatric unit. When the time came for Secory-Monson to move from the ER to the secure psychiatric unit, she was given a hospital gown to change into and allowed to use the restroom alone to change. The deputy testified that patients are made to change into hospital gowns to enforce the hospital’s policy of forbidding drugs, weapons, and any other contraband on the psychiatric floor. The deputy asked Secory-Monson to empty her pockets before going into the restroom to change. As Secory- Monson emptied her pockets, a leafy substance suspected to be marijuana was discovered.
Secory-Monson was charged with possession of marijuana and later convicted, leading to the appeal, based on her assertion that the deputy violated her rights by conducting a warrantless search.
However, the Iowa court of appeals ruled that Secory-Monson did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the emergency room before being transferred to a secure psychiatric unit. “A determination of whether a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy is to be made on a case-by-case basis, considering the unique facts of the situation,” the court said in its opinion, underlining the fact that the court has “previously held no reasonable expectation of privacy exists while in a hospital emergency room.”
