Following publication of the RCPath guidelines relating to this area we rewrote our SOP. This was passed to our medical director who forwarded it to the Central Legal Office for comment. They questioned the points relating to the police rights of access to material under the road traffic act legislation in cases of suspected drunk driving, suggesting and suggested that this should be raised with RCPath. Which I have done.
We take the stand that we require a letter from the Procurator Fiscal asking us to release the samples in light of this. The Police are happy to oblige by arranging for either a letter of comfort to facilitate release of the specimen or production of a warrant to facilitate analysis. Conversation with a police officer only last week around this issue identified the fact that they believe they are empowered to make potential evidence safe where a crime is suspected in the context of an RTA (i.e. either remove the sample to a place of safety or ensure the agreement of the lab to make it safe), but require a warrant to undertake the analysis in order to make it admissible as evidence. If the ethanol measurement is to be required for medico legal purposes and not direct patient care then I think we have an answer in the scenario originally identified to the mail base.
Regards
Bill Bartlett
-----Original Message-----
From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Reynolds Tim
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 10:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Police seizure of samples
We have supplied results for a case where the murder victim was a close
cousin of one of my lab staff - but the police needed the results and
were very happy to find that the staff member concerned was off on
maternity leave so could not have had any contact with the sample...
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*************
Prof. Tim Reynolds,
Queen's Hospital,
Belvedere Rd,
Burton-on-Trent,
Staffordshire,
DE13 0RB
work tel: 01283 511511 ext. 4035
work fax: 01283 593064
work email: [log in to unmask]
home email: [log in to unmask]
************************************************************************
**************
-----Original Message-----
From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of gordon challand
Sent: 03 August 2009 22:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Police seizure of samples
Dear Mike and Janice
I am astonished that from your angle you believe that only 'Home Office
labs' can produce results acceptable in Court. First, do any 'Home
Office
labs' still exist? the old Forensic Science Service was dismantled many
years ago. Second, the Royal Berkshire Hospital Clinical Biochemistry
Department has produced many results over the years which even without a
chain of custody document of the sample (although we try to obtain this,
it
is not usually possible to obtain it retrospectively) have been used as
evidence in many Court cases, without anyone seriously challenging their
authenticity or the ability of the Department to produce valid results
which
were acceptable in a legal case - one of these Cases which I was
involved in
led to a change in the law, in that failure to ask for medical
assistance in
a methadone toxicity case led to a charge of manslaughter being
successfully
brought.
Best wishes
Gordon Challand
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