Blood warrants (continued)
In some municipalities, especially those that have expanded their search warrant program to include all refusal cases, the controversy has arisen concerning who should be available to make the blood draws and who should pay the costs associated with the blood draws themselves, and the employee’s time spent in court if their testimony becomes necessary. A recent Austin American Statesman article by Tony Pholetski outlined these issues:
HOSPITALS, JAIL OFFICIALS DON'T WANT TO COLLECT SUSPECTS' BLOOD
Friday, January 09, 2009
Leaders of the city's two major hospital networks and Travis County Jail officials have told Austin police that they no longer wish to collect blood evidence of suspects in criminal investigations.
Officials for the county's central jail booking facility, where such samples have traditionally been taken, informed police last year that they no longer wanted nurses involved in the practice. Jail nurses stopped taking the samples, which are mostly used in drunken driving cases, on Jan. 1.
Hospital representatives have since asked Austin police not to bring suspects to emergency rooms for blood draws, a procedure that has grown in popularity among law enforcement agencies and prompted controversy locally.
Jail and hospital officials cite a variety of reasons for their decisions.
The article goes on to discuss liability questions and the costs associated with blood draws for the hospitals and county jails where the blood has traditionally been drawn.
To see the entire article, go to: http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/01/09/0109blood.html