Nurse arrested for not following a police directive.

Maybe an ER nurse could clear up something. Where I work, every procedure or med is backed up by a doctor's order. My understanding is that if I draw blood without an order, I could be charged with battery. How does it work in the ER when cops want a blood draw? Are the cops able to give that order or does a doctor order it?

One of the comments to the original news story which began this thread, alleges to quote Illinois law about blood draws for DUIs, as follows:

625 ILCS 5/11‑501.8(b)(vi)
If a driver is receiving medical treatment as a result of a motor vehicle accident, a physician licensed to practice medicine, registered nurse, or other qualified person trained in venipuncture and acting under the direction of a licensed physician shall withdraw blood for testing purposes to ascertain the presence of alcohol upon the specific request of a law enforcement officer. However, that testing shall not be performed until, in the opinion of the medical personnel on scene, the withdrawal can be made without interfering with or endangering the well‑being of the patient. [EMPHASIS ADDED]

So, just like everywhere else in a hospital setting, the nurse would have to follow a physician's order,...NOT THE COP'S!

Be sure to go back and read many of the informative comments to the BreakingNews article at the cite at the start of this thread. One commentator claims she was actually there and slinked off so as not to be involved, claiming that the main problem is being subpoenaed to court.

wish the whole story was printed & what the state law is before we rush to judgement 1 way or the other.

We won't hear the other side of the story until after it's settled and then only if we're lucky. That's because the police have nothing to gain from commenting now and everything to lose. It'll probably be settled out of court anyway and with a gag agreement which means we won't ever hear the police side of the story.

Now that is messed up.

Battery is failure to get consent from the patient which if it is blood drawn unwilliny from them then this applies(uk legally)
Why would a docotor order change this if the patient still didn't consent. The person performing the action is the one who needs to ensure consent like any other nursing action.

I used to deal with this multiple times a day when I worked at Ben Taub ED in Houston. You have to register the patient in because you have to have a record of the event. When you draw the blood sample, you are acting as an agent on behalf of law enforcement and at least under Texas law you cannot refuse the police order to obtain the sample. However, the hospital must have a record of the event and you must document in that record what you did and who you gave the sample to. If you have to go to court to establish chain of evidence, this record is important. This nurse did exactly what she was supposed to do and this police officer needs some education regarding his role in this process.

Having a doctors order for anyting invasive or for actually touching the patient to for example apply restraints, does not mean that the patient cannot bring charges against you for assault. The doctors order does not mean squat. I personally, in 31 years of nursing have never seen this type of thing ever even get near a court room. When they used to threaten me with a lawyer, I would hand them a phone and tell them to dial away. I had one patient bring a complaint to the board about a nurse who he said assaulted him. He was drunk and he actually assaulted her, hitting her and he actually bit her breast (bleeding all over the place). She filed charges against him and he went to jail. When he got out he called the board of nursing. When she got notice of the complaint in the mail, she gave it to me ( I was the director) and I wrote a letter to the board explaining the situation. The complaint went away. You will get threats all the time. I tell these people that it is their right to make a complaint, file charges or call their lawyer. It is their choice. And then I don't worry about it. It used to scare me but not anymore. No one has ever done it. They just try to intemidate you. These people are just being a pain in the butt.

Here in Arizona, the police are authorized and trained to draw blood themselves without going to an ER or hospital, and a suspect cannot refuse. They actually have mobile units that are large and fully equipped to do this. It takes care of the problem of medical staff dragging their feet because of the possibility of them ending up testifying in court.

Some of the comments after the story were actually more informative and thought provoking than the actual story itself.

I know that we'll probably never see a follow-up on this story to see how the lawsuit came out, or the police's side of the story, but I would be interested in seeing it......

She didn't need to go to jail, but I probably would have; he'd have come up to me demanding a blood draw, and I would have said, "Sir, I'd love to but you just arrested my charge nurse who's in charge of triage, and she decides which patient I get next."

I'm very proud of the law enforcement guys in my family, and I was discussing the story with one of them who said, "gee, why couldn't the nurse just draw some blood?"

After reminding him that if we don't do a perfect chain of evidence, what we find will get thrown out of court, I told him "don't come up in the ER and act like a jerk. We're on your side, but that drunk you need a DUI kit on doesn't get priority treatment over the woman with placenta previa, the acute MI, the CVA we need to intubate and fly the crap outta here NOW, or saving the life of the innocent bystander the drunk hit."