A new partnership in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, is changing how some DUI investigations are handled — and it’s sparked strong reactions from EMS professionals nationwide.
Under the agreement, certified fire department paramedics can perform on-scene evidentiary blood draws when requested by sheriff’s deputies, particularly when a suspect isn’t being transported to the hospital. Officials say the change will streamline enforcement, reduce case delays and minimize unnecessary hospital trips.
But many paramedics see this move as crossing a line — blurring the boundaries between medical care and law enforcement duties, and opening the door to legal entanglements and ethical concerns.
|MORE: Ind. county paramedics to draw blood at DUI investigations in partnership with sheriff’s office
“Absolutely not! It blurs the line between caregiver and LEOs.”
Reader comments
“It’s a slippery slope. Those employees who draw blood will be subpoenaed and will sometimes have to go to court. The department will have to account for that and that they will have to cover their shifts and pay them to attend court hearings.”
“Emphatically no. We are there to treat. We had that provision in our protocols for a number of years and left it up to the agencies and the providers themselves to determine if they wanted to participate.”
“As a practicing paramedic you know first hand how much danger a drunk driver can inflict on innocent people. You should be excited to help reduce that danger. You should be excited to bring those that cause harm to justice. Big Whoop! You might have to go testify that you drew blood: Yes, I drew the blood. Yes, I have a protocol and followed it. Yes, I did it at the request of Law Enforcement because of THEIR investigation, not my own.”
“Absolutely not! It blurs the line between caregiver and LEOs.”
“Absolutely Not! BTDT in the 90s. Cops stopping at firehouse at all hours of the night. Paramedics being subpoenaed to court on their days off to testify as to the mechanics of the blood draw. Slime ball attorneys demeaning EMS personnel trying to get the blood draw dismissed. No thank you, never again.”
“Not a real concern here. State Law says that you SHALL... In most cases, there is no delay in patient care and you are not sharing patient information. If the patient is in police custody, in most cases, LE is responsible for the care and well-being. If it creates a delay in an objectively critical patient, just like an IV...you don’t delay transport to perform the task. Consider the amount of drift that EMS has already willing committed that may have contribute to (or even caused) many of the challenges that the industry has faced for 30 years. EMS has already drifted beyond its intended purpose and lost its identity having done MANY favors that have become expectations leading to delays in access, prolonged response times, “status-zero” and dropped coverage, provider and resource strain and fatigue, and removed or avoided the mandating of other medical entities being held to the same obligations. This is just one more step toward providing another person or entity a “convenience” service.”
“This is a defense lawyers dream to be able to get blood draw thrown out due to possible contamination. Not necessarily for the blood alcohol level, but to show it wasn’t a sterile environment. If that is something that really needs to be done, it should be immediate results such as an iStat cartridge, which requires a machine to be carried, or an Eliza snap test. Just my opinion. Let’s just say from experience.”
“We did this in the 90s, on the direction of NYS troopers controlling the scene.”
| MORE: Balancing care and collaboration: Key lessons from EMS and law enforcement interactions
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