Hospital Blood Tests Not Privileged in New York

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For years, DUI / Drunk Driving defense attorneys, myself included, have been saying the DUI / Drunk Driving laws have been eroding our civil rights.

If someone has a blood test done in a hospital after a DUI / Drunk Driving accident, in many states, the blood vial itself and the blood tests results are now discoverable by the prosecution in a DUI / Drunk Driving case.

In New York, a Court of Appeals held that a driver’s blood and the blood test results are not privileged because under traffic laws, drivers automatically consent to a toxicology test (breath, blood, urine or saliva) for alcohol or drugs when there is a fatal crash or serious injuries and get arrested. Therefore, there is no applicable Doctor-Patient privilege.