Patient gives permission? No worries, blood is turned over to the cops. Patient *doesn't* give permission? OK, now we're looking at warrant, or court order.
Patient's rights are protected. No one gets arrested.
But that's with hindsight and forethought. In the moment, with everyone not at the top of their game, dealing with a fatal car accident, and two people (the nurse and the cop) who weren't willing to budge .... whole different story.
> As an aside, and with hindsight and some thought, maybe the best way to handle it was to draw the blood and store it until the pt regained consciousness. <
I must respectfully disagree. As an analogy, suppose the cops want to search your house, and they don’t have a warrant. The come to your house anyway. But no one is there to give consent.
Would it be okay for them to search anyway, and then hope for your consent when you return?
The act of drawing the blood, absent consent or a legal order (as in, arrest or court order) violates the patient’s fourth amendment rights. The “middle way” you describe can (and will) be used to circumvent the rights of the individual.
As I understand the situation, the patient was not under pursuit - he was hit by someone the police were pursuing. Therefore, any blood draw (absent consent or legal order) is a fishing expedition by the police to defray their obvious culpability.
“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.
* ;-)
The concept and practice of grabbing evidence while you can, just to be sure, and nobody's the wiser if you don't use it, is the heart of the NSA dragnet of cell phone records and a big middle finger to the Fourth Amendment.
Except that drawing the blood would constitute, IMO, I’m not a lawyer, assault in itself. This puts the nurse in a bad position.
I’m an RN. We have been taught from day one that we have no authority to do certain procedures, like drawing blood, without a physician’s order. I have never drawn blood without a physician’s order. There are times I’ve drawn blood under physicians “standing orders,” but those are still signed by a physician. It’s just not done.
The nurse would indeed be reported to the state board of nursing for going outside her scope of practice, an illegal act that could jeopardize her license.