Defendant Has Been Injured: Hospital Blood Samples
Contents
Hospital Blood Samples – What’s in There?
When you get admitted to the hospital after an accident, they take blood samples pretty quickly. We’re talking within the first few hours usually. This blood gets tested for all kinds of things – blood alcohol level, presence of drugs, metabolic issues, etc. The at-fault party will try to get their hands on these records. Why? They want to find anything to discredit you and reduce their liability.
Your medical records are private, but they can be subpoenaed. The other side will look for evidence you were intoxicated or impaired. Even prescription drugs in your system could weaken your case. They’ll claim your own negligence contributed to the accident.
Don’t panic yet though. Having substances in your blood doesn’t automatically make you negligent. But you need an experienced injury attorney to make that argument for you.
Strategies to Fight Blood Sample Evidence
Just because you have alcohol or drugs in your system doesn’t mean you caused the accident. Your attorney can argue a few key points:
- Impairment levels – Just having a substance present doesn’t mean you were actually impaired. Your attorney can bring in medical experts to analyze if the levels actually caused impairment. There are legal limits for a reason.
- Timing – When exactly were the samples taken in relation to the accident? Samples taken hours later won’t prove impairment at the time of the crash.
- Prescriptions – If you take prescription medications, that’s not negligence as long as you took them as directed. Your attorney will point this out.
- Unrelated conditions – Did you take any substances for medical reasons, like pain treatment? Your attorney can argue this wasn’t recreational.
- Chain of custody – This questions if the samples were properly collected, labeled, and stored. Faulty procedures create doubt about accuracy.
Your attorney may also argue that even if you were impaired, the other party’s actions were still the main cause of the accident. Your negligence can reduce damages but may not eliminate liability.
Other Hospital Records to Watch For
Blood samples aren’t the only hospital records the defense will dig into. Here are some other things they might try to use against you:
- Mental health history – If you have any mental health conditions like depression or anxiety, they may argue you weren’t thinking clearly at the time of the accident. But having a mental health diagnosis doesn’t mean you caused the crash.
- Pre-existing conditions – If you have prior injuries or health conditions, they’ll argue those caused your current symptoms rather than the accident. Your attorney can fight this by showing medical records proving new injuries.
- Inconsistent statements – If your account of the accident differs from what you told hospital staff, the defense will question your credibility. That’s why it’s crucial to be consistent in all statements about the accident.
- Gaps in treatment – If you have gaps between medical treatments, it can appear you weren’t seriously injured. But there are many valid reasons for treatment gaps like insurance issues.
The Takeaway
Hospital visits after an accident can help you get treatment, but they also create a paper trail. The defense will dig through your records looking for anything to weaken your injury claim. But there are effective legal strategies to fight this. An attorney can argue that substances in your system were within legal limits, taken as prescribed, or didn’t actually contribute to the accident. They can also scrutinize whether records were collected properly and show new injuries unrelated to prior conditions.