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.”
“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.”
“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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