A bill that was introduced into the the Ohio State Senate had a provision added to it by State Senator Timothy Grendell that would allow EMS workers to conduct blood draws at motor vehicle crashes that could/can be introduced as evidence into legal proceedings. The purpose of this would be an attempt to reduce the number of alcohol related crashes that happen. There are many concerns and questions that come up with this issue such as who is responsible for the blood once its drawn and will this impede patient care.
The state of Florida currently requires that blood be drawn at all vehicle crashes where someone is either injured or killed and according to the article this does not impede any care that is provided. EMS personnel that perform blood draws in the field, once they are proficient in performing the skill, would find that this would not impede or delay any patient care. This is the same argument that was used when pre-hospital 12 lead EKG's were first introduced. At the onset of use there might be some additional time added but as the users proficiency increased any time delays were returned to normal.
The bigger issue here, one could argue, is whether or not EMS providers should be drawing pre-hospital bloods for the purpose of evidence collection in potentially illegal incidents. While pre-hospital blood draws can be greatly beneficial to the patient and in-hospital staff when it comes to providing definitive care, one has to realize that that is the reason they are done and not for legal proceedings.
Here is the link to the article that was posted on www.emsresponder.com
Also here is the link to the senate bill that contains the requirements.
Comments