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Nurse arrested defending patient
A US police department is reviewing its policies after an officer arrested a hospital nurse who challenged his orders.
The videotaped arrest of a Utah nurse in the US who refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient has led to scrutiny of the Salt Lake City Police Department.
What happened? Police body-camera video shows Salt Lake City detective Jeff Payne handcuffing nurse Alex Wubbels on 26 July after she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient after a car crash.
In the video Wubbels says she’ s protecting the patient’ s rights and she can’ t take the man’ s blood unless he is under arrest, police have a warrant or the patient consents.
None of that applied, and the patient was not a suspect. Payne’ s written report says he wanted the sample to show the victim did nothing wrong.
The dispute ended with Payne telling Wubbels:“ We’ re done, you’ re under arrest.” He drags Wubbels outside while she screams:“ I’ ve done nothing wrong.”
Wubbels is being praised for her actions to protect the patient, while Payne and another officer are on paid leave. Criminal and internal affairs investigations are underway.
Legal issues at play? A 2016 US Supreme Court ruling says a blood sample can’ t be taken without patient consent or a warrant. But in this case, the officer reportedly believed he had‘ implied consent’ to take the patient’ s blood.
Implied consent assumes that a person with a driver’ s licence has given approval for blood draws, alcohol breath screenings or other tests if there’ s reason to believe the driver is under the influence.
Paul Cassell, a criminal law professor at the University of Utah, says state law doesn’ t permit a blood draw in this situation – especially since the blood was being sought to prove the patient was not under the influence.
Wubbels’ lawyer, Karra Porter, said the state’ s implied consent law“ has no relevance in this case whatsoever under anyone’ s interpretation”.
“ The officer here admitted on the video and to another officer on the scene that he knew there was no probable cause for a warrant.”
Medical personnel vs police Charles Idelson, a spokesman for National Nurses United, said a nurse’ s prime responsibility is to be a patient advocate and protect patients, especially when they can’ t consent themselves.
Meanwhile, police are investigators and have to capture forensic evidence, which in the case of a blood draw, is decaying with every passing minute, said Ron Martinelli, a forensic criminologist and certified medical investigator.
“ For the officer, the clock is ticking,” Martinelli said.
The officers A second officer who was put on leave has not been formally identified, but officials have said they are reviewing the conduct of Payne’ s boss, a lieutenant who reportedly called for Wubbels’ arrest if she kept interfering.
Wubbels, who was not charged with a crime, has said that Payne“ bullied me to the utmost extreme”.
The Salt Lake City police chief and mayor also apologised and changed department policies on blood draws. A police spokeswoman said the new policy does not allow for implied consent for any party and requires a warrant or consent.
She also said the agency has met with hospital administration to ensure it does not happen again and to repair relationships. ■
AAP
6 | nursingreview. com. au