Nurse Arrested For... Obstructing Justice? Or Following the Law?

Yes he was. He was in imminent danger of having his skin pierced and his bodily fluids removed by an unauthorized person without his consent or a legal justification.

But then again, you don't know anything about the law, so why am I even bothering to talk to you?

The Latest: Prosecutor wants criminal probe of nurse arrest

Based on what I've read, this was wrong on every level and this woman deserves to have several badges on her mantle at home and a nice fat check for her trouble.

Was the patient under custodial arrest? No.
Did the police have a warrant? No.
Was the patient conscious and therefore able to give consent? No.
Was there implied consent? No.
Can the nurse perform an invasive test without a doctor's order? No.

The Nurse acted properly. Full stop.

This reads like a classic PoP arrest and it's rightfully getting the coverage it deserves.

PoP = Pissin' Off the Police.

The burn victim was not a suspect, just someone who got injured during a police chase.

Methinks the police were hoping to find some impairment in order to blunt the huge lawsuit that is, no doubt, coming their way.

That's the only rationale I can see for the police insistence on getting a blood sample from someone not a suspect.

Now the lawsuit will be doubly big.

Well, HERE is a twist!

Since the updated Washington Post article is behind a paywall, here's another link:

http://www.idahostatejournal.com/ne...cle_f9c5ae9e-654d-5166-b473-816cdbf8fab4.html

But remember, the nurse was completely in the wrong, according to Flashlight.

Oh, snap! By the way, the whole implied consent angle would never fly anyway. I don't recall the case name, but I distinctly remember that we had remedial training because implied consent was no longer valid because it had been struck down by the courts.

I get that the burn victim wasn't a suspect - but he's a truck driver. Bottom line that truck driver was in a vehicular accident, thus the insurance company and truck driving company and other agencies need to know if he's driving clean. Granted this turned into an epic shit-storm and hilarity ensued, that's why it's news.

I'm a little confused. Doesn't @The Flashlight pretend to be libertarian or do I have him mixed up with someone else? Arguing the police have a right to perform medical exams on you without consent or a warrant doesn't seem very libertarianish to me.

Point of order:

#1: Any time an unconscious person presents to the ER, the Doctors are going to order a BAL and a drug screen. What's in the patient's system is one of the many things the clinicians need to know so they can properly treat the patient.
#2: Federal Department of Transportation regulations require that any commercial driver involved in a motor vehicle accident have a BAL and drug screen.

However, these results are part of the patient's private medical record that is protected by Federal Law. A law enforcement agency, even a Federal one like DOT, must obtain consent or a court order unless the person is under custodial arrest.

He's being a contrarian. It's what he does. It's all he does.

I see! So that officer (or one of his fellow officers on another shift) would have to come back another time when the patient could give consent, or try to get a court order? Is that one way it could have been handled to still satisfy the requirement to attest to his driving condition?

The BAL and drug screen was taken when he arrived at the ER. The times would still be valid for later prosecution if necessary. Lets put it in the most simple terms. If you have a wreck at 1730 and at 1755 the ER shows you having a BAL of 0.15, it's safe to say that you were DUI at 1730. This is one of the reasons my local PD changed their policies. We used to actually get a vial of blood using implied consent and send it off to the State Forensics Laboratory in Hoover, AL. But, when implied consent was struck down, we just started using the BAL and drug screens that were already performed by the hospital. You just have to have consent or a court order to get them unless the patient is under custodial arrest.

Also,

/thread

Perfect! So why didn't that cop use this train of thought to begin with? Especially being a trained blood expert of all people! You would think he knows any and all laws & procedures related to blood draws inside & out. Yeah, I would dump this liability like a hot potato if that can even be done in law enforcement circles.

Because now that I'm in the private sector I can finally say that roughly 33% of the Police Officers I've ever met or worked with need to be in Federal Prison for civil rights violations or outright criminal activity. Another 33% are so stupid that they would die if heartbeat and breathing weren't autonomous.

damn that's scary! But thanks for the boots-on-the-ground info. Now I don't feel silly for being paranoid as fuck around cops - my son is the same way. Anyone who thinks "don't do anything wrong and you have nothing to worry about" might get their eyes opened in a shockingly sad way in the future and I wish I could see the look on their face. That said they have the badge, a gun and most importantly the powers of arrest so I sure won't argue with them.

Doesn't matter, there were procedures in place that the police agreed on. The requirements for taking blood had not been met.

Wr

Wrong again.
Cop wanted the blood after the patient was admitted he needed to go through channels. That means getting a warrant.

Now, you tell me why the hell any more blood was needed. Patient came through the ED dept. they had to have drawn a bucket of blood there. Go to the lab and get more tests run on that blood, which by the way probably would have more of the #s the cop wanted.

Continuously drawing blood is painful, thus the nurse was doing her duty to protect the patient

Trust me, that blood would have been drawn in the ED dept. the longer you wait to draw that blood and run it, the less that result means.

Good thing your opinions are utterly meaningless, sport, or else my feelings might have been hurt.

Yes, ma'am.

Practical Rule #1 in Police 101: Don't. piss. off. the. nurse. You don't want to be rolled into the ER after getting hurt and see someone that hates you standing over you.

Awww, how cute. Well twinkletoes, now that we've established how much we don't care for each other's opinion, how about you go suck a transgendered AIDS cock.

This is a pretty damning statement.

Don't project, homo. Your sex life is none of my concern.

He's just a low quality troll with no real opinions.

What do you think has to change to improve the police force?