Oct 14, 2009 5:20 pm US/Central
Should Hospitals Be Forced To Test For DUI?
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Nurse Lisa Hofstra filed a lawsuit last month against a Chicago police officer for hancuffing her and escorting her out of the hospital after she told him he'd have to follow normal procedures to get a blood sample drawn from a suspected drunk driver.
Surveillance Photo
Are drunk drivers going free because of delays in testing the level of
alcohol in their system? Mothers Against Drunk Driving says they are.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that the issue is whether hospital workers should be required to take blood samples from suspected drunk drivers.
Alex Foamete dreamed of being an actor and he dreamed of marrying Alina Rusnac, building a life and having children. Those dreams died with him last August, when he was killed at a North Side intersection by a driver who'd allegedly been drinking.
There have been no charges filed against that driver.
Rusnac said, "I'm really mad about that."
Foamete's friend Catalina Vasile said "I couldn't take it. I was crying all the time."
Foamete's friends and family said they are upset that hours went by before the driver's blood was finally drawn in the emergency room of Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
CBS 2 News has learned that her blood alcohol content was by then far below the legal limit for intoxication. Police and prosecutors withdrew the aggravated DUI charges they had originally filed against her. CBS 2 News is not identifying that driver because she is not charged with a crime.
The delay provoked an angry confrontation between police and emergency room personnel, similar to two other confrontations this year in Downstate Jacksonville and in Winnebago County.
"Lack of cooperation with law enforcement regarding the blood draws. That is a common, routine thing, not just in the Chicago area, but throughout the state and, probably quite frankly, across the county, said Elizabeth Earleywine, traffic safety resource prosecutor at the Illinois Department of Transportation. "Winnebago County, approximately a year ago, had the same situation come up, where they threatened to arrest one of the nurses if they didn't take a blood test."
Current Illinois law does not require hospitals to perform blood testing on DUI suspects. Mothers Against Drunk Driving said that a new state law is needed, one that would compel medical personnel to conduct such tests promptly.
"The hospitals do not want the police bringing drunks to the emergency room. They've got to deal with already." MADD executive director Susan McKeigue said. "A drunk driver can go scot-free without any evidence to convict him."
Friends and family who still mourned 24-year-old Alex Foamete noted that his blood was drawn immediately when he arrived at the emergency room virtually brain-dead. They said they wish the driver who killed him had faced the same treatment.
"It's just about justice," Vasile said.
Earleywine said she would like to see police officers, hospital workers and other stakeholders get together to reach a compromise. Meantime, MADD planned to lobby in Springfield to change state law to force emergency room personnel to draw the blood of suspected drunk drivers.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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