| ...Blood Test... |
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| If you are subjected to a Blood Test there are several things that you need to know. |
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Is the test a whole blood or serum test. If the vial that the blood is being placed in has a white powder then preservatives are being placed in the blood and more than likely a whole blood test. Whole blood tests have one defensive advantage in the sense that they are typically preformed by an outside lab, often times out of state. Therefore when the prosecution has to establish the chain of custody for the blood sample they may have to undergo the cost of flying in a person from a lab outside of the state.
Serum Samples have the advantage that they do not represent a true blood sample as the blood is separated via a centrifuge machine and only alcohol level in the fluid of the blood is tested. This usually results in a guest mate that must take place of reducing the serum BAC level by 18-20%. When fighting this type of test a blood test can be drawn from the accused and an expert maybe able to testify that the accused has abnormally high red blood cell concentration in the blood and therefore the sample is not useable. |
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The second area that is advantageous about the serum sample is that the defense attorney should immediately subpoena the blood sample for retesting. A serum blood sample does not have a preservative in it. Within a few hours of the blood draw the blood will begin to ferment. This will actually increase the BAC in the blood. So the test will yield a higher result than in the initial test. Therefore the prosecutor will have to explain why the two tests to do not reconcile. If the defense is not given access for retesting the phoenix dui attorney can claim that access to the evidence was denied and the sample can either be thrown out in court or the jury will not like this.
If a serum sample is conducted make sure that the sample has been adjusted. There have been many cases where the hospital lab technician has no idea what she is doing and reports the higher number as the whole blood sample. If this is done then the hospital has failed to follow established protocol as laid out by the doctor and the sample is not admissible in court. |
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| Phoenix dui attorneys also must consider other factors, was the phlebotomist required to be certified in her field. |
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Did the phlebotomist use alcohol in the blood draw? At trial more than likely the doctor will claim that it would not affect the model of the machine they use if they did. A phoenix dui attorney will hire an expert witness to explain under what circumstances the machine could be fooled.
Was the protocol the lab technician followed created by a doctor? If not then the sample was not taken in a medically acceptable fashion and could be found inadmissible in court.
Phoenix dui attorney often find that hospital workers get lazy and stop following established protocols. |
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