Posted on 09/01/2017 7:34:22 AM PDT by BobNative
A nurse says she was assaulted and illegally arrested by a Salt Lake City police detective for following a hospital policy that does not allow blood draws from unconscious patients.
Footage from University Hospital and officer body cameras shows Detective Jeff Payne and nurse Alex Wubbels in a standoff over whether the policeman should be allowed to get a blood sample from a patient who had been injured in a July 26 collision in northern Utah that left another driver dead.
Wubbels says blood cannot be taken from an unconscious patient unless the patient is under arrest, unless there is a warrant allowing the draw or unless the patient consents. The detective acknowledges in the footage that none of those requirements is in place, but he insists that he has the authority to obtain the draw, according to the footage.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
The nurse would and should be penalized for making an unauthorized, or even illegal, blood draw. She knew the rules and abided by them...the cop didn’t.
I hope she takes the cops to the cleaners.
Well said.
How did the accident victim lose his rights?
You don’t lose any rights if you are rendered unconscious through no fault of your own.
He has a right not to be stuck with a needle while unconscious, by some yahoo with sketchy training in how to draw blood.
>>There’s absolutely no cause for his blood to be drawn in this case.
Fishing expedition to find a way to keep his lawyers from suing over the police chase that resulted in his injuries.
“I didn’t look at the video, but I looked at the headline, so I am confident I know what the real story is.”
The bar is high, but I think you may have cleared it for the most clueless FreeRepublic post ever.
I guess this bunch of cops don’t expect that THEY might ever roll into a hospital. These dim bulb cops go insult restaurant cooks too?
Seems to me she upheld her duties and protected the victim from an unlawfull act.
Watch the video then comment.
“maybe the best way to handle it was to draw the blood and store it until the pt regained consciousness.”
The hole* point is NOT TO PIERCE the guy’s skin without his consent or a court order.
* ;-)
If a patient arrives in the ER unconscious, a blood draw is just one test to assess the reason for this patient’s state of consciousness?
I don’t know if this has any bearing on the case whatsoever. This guy is the one that got hit by the one fleeing police, right? From the article regarding the patient: “a reserve officer in the Rigby, Idaho, Police Department, who suffered burns during a July 26 crash in Cache County.
Gray is a truck driver when he is not serving as a reserve police officer, according to the Idaho State Journal.”
Most important point in this whole sad event. The cop was trying to make it the victim’s fault.
I think that's a little more analogous to my example. I didn't say that my idea was a good one. :-)
It's worth noting that the patient is only "protected" if he did nothing at all wrong. Let's just say that he had a beer before getting into the truck. Still no way that he was at fault - person who hit him was fleeing from the police. BUT, it would open the possibility for the police to arrest him, charge him with vehicular manslaughter, civil suit from the dead guy's family, might lose his license, etc etc.
Flip side, if the cops are looking for someone to blame and they "Smell Alcohol" on his breath when there was nothing to smell... a blood test would exonerate him.
But, regardless, the cop was trying to get away with something that was clearly outside the law.
I said she was dragged. I said she was screaming. I did not say “I am confident I know what the real story is.”
Stop putting words in my mouth and shut up till you figure out what’s going on.
> I did not watch the video. <
Watch the video. it’s only two minutes long. That nurse was very calm and professional. She knew exactly what the law was. The person who was nuts was the cop. He absolutely exploded when he didn’t get his own way.
Some might say that you should always obey a cop’s orders, then sort it out later. That’s usually good advice. But not in this case.
By the way, here’s the full (18 minute) video of the event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yia7qs01z1M
Put in your asbestos underpants, FRiend. You’re going to get torched.
Hardly. Patient confidentiality is a very real issue. HIPAA and the 4th Amendment are in play here.
The unconscious person in her hospital was the victim of a head-on collision caused by a perp (who died in this same collision) the Utah police were chasing.
There is no cause for this victim's blood to be drawn.
She's on the phone talking to hospital officials, and relaying information. If the hospital would have drawn the blood and given it to the cop, they would have violated both HIPAA, and the 4th Amendment. The hospital, and possibly the nurse, would have then subjected themselves to two potential lawsuits by the victim in this case, and any blood drawn would have been inadmissible in court.
No judge in his/her right mind would issue a warrant in this case, and there is no reason for this victim to be under arrest.
Perhaps. But to have an arrest records over this matter?
Perhaps if she kept her cool and didn’t resort to screaming and being dragged - perhaps she and the victim would have been better served.
Cops aren’t exactly the smartest people in society.
Ah, I didn't consider that aspect. Guy in the hospital can sue the cops, but if he was DUI, then he doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Like I said in a previous post, I didn't say my idea was a good one. The laws exist to protect the patient and should be followed. If they had been, and the cop had done as the nurse suggested, then no one would have been arrested.
With consideration for what you said, the nurse was absolutely right not to draw blood. Wonder if there's more to the story. One cop, acting out of line? Lousy, but it happens. Sounds like he was ordered by his boss to do it, though, which now makes me raise an eyebrow.
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