(11-19-2017, 09:53 PM)jpub Wrote: One thing is like to mention: You're all right that a MRI would probably show that Taylor's triggered, but I'm thinking that privacy laws, as well as the PRT's participation in the Unwritten Rules that project secret identities, means that is probably going to take a warrant on the suspicion of using parahuman abilities to commit a crime before you can force someone to submit to a scan.
Much belated but something to highlight; the PRT barely offers any lip service to the concept of the Unwritten Rules. The Unwritten Rules do not exist, directly, for the benefit of the government, you see.
The Unwritten Rules exist for the benefits of the capes. And noone else. Especially the capes involved in crime and fighting crime without the benefit of the implied back up of the entire US government. If the government believes that they can get a cape under their thumb or in jail (depending on the specifics) by spilling their identity or spill their identity before they are notable enough other capes would get nervous they would do so. They would also happily exploit their knowledge of civilian identities to conduct arrests on unprepared and unequipped capes.
They've done that in Worm after all.
However, for capes without back up like what the Protectorate and the PRT get, heeding the Unwritten Rules is still a very good idea; they're what keep you from terminally pissing off the powerful gang leaders in the city as well as the various non-criminal capes operating on their own or in small teams. People have been executed by such persons in the background of the story.
The Endbringer Truce is a real thing that even the government sort of heeds. Mostly because if the government can't point to any incident that could otherwise have spilled a secret identity or made arrests during the recovery from invasions by the local walking apocalypses they'd lose half their manpower or more because a surprising amount of villains volunteer to do this rather dangerous job.
As for the MRI scan; even if the PRT could order it be made it's very likely they've no right to actually see it, unless there's legislation in place that requires doctors to report any parahumans in their care. Because, you know, patient privacy privilege. The PRT would need at minimum a valid warrant to force someone to hand over private documentation, and they can't actually serve it to the doctors I think. It's Taylor's dossier after all, not theirs. And doctors only have a right to access that medical dossier in so far as needed to adequately perform their medicine, and can be denied at any moment access by the owner or by their legal representative, which is Taylor's father given she's a minor.
(Which means that yes, you can tell your treating physician that you don't want them to read your dossier, and they would have to obey. It wouldn't be sensible, because they need that dossier to actually provide you with the best care they can, but you can do it.)