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It is interesting that topics such as this should produce a flurry of email activity as for example the recent large number of messages re add on tests.Yet queries of a clinical nature often elicit little response. Too much watching our own backs chaps. I can not believe that protecting drunk drivers who may have killed or seriously injured people is in the best interests of the public or the medical profession. It seems to me illogical that an offender should escape justice just because he did not consent to a blood sample while he was unconscious. Yes there are problems of civil liberties but if there is no alcohol in the blood then no one is really harmed and if there is the the wheels of the justice system can begin to turn. The bereaved and the injured have their rights also. The only thing we need to be concerned with is that the police must act within the law. If that is so then it is unlikely anything will happen to lab staff who in any case will normally not handle the specimen. I myself would have no problem in meeting a request from a police officer if if there was the slightest possibility that the patient had been drinking and had been involved in an accident. It would not matter if no one else had been involved because they could have been. Mike Addison Dr G.Michael Addison Royal Manchester Children's Hospital Pendlebury Manchester M27 4HA United Kingdom Tel 0161-727-2250(AM)or 0161-220-5342(PM) FAX 0161-727-2249 Email [log in to unmask] ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and they are responsible for all message content. ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk List Archives http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/