Do police have access to blood tests taken at the hospital after a DUI-related car accident?
If you need the answer to this question, we'll cover the situations where the police may have access to your blood tests after a DUI.
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UPDATED: May 5, 2022
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UPDATED: May 5, 2022
asdfIt’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
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Whether the police may see your medical records after an accident involving a DUI depends on whether you gave them permission, and whether they have probable cause to get a warrant for those records.
Table of Contents
Understanding Your Right to Privacy
There are many laws in place within the US that protect your right to privacy, especially when it comes to medical records and law enforcement:
- HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) essentially states that no one may access your medical records without your permission.
- The Fourth Amendment also protects against any unreasonable search and seizure by the police. This would include a search of your medical records, or a search of your person or vehicle.
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When Police Can See Your Medical Records
While your right to privacy and your right to be free from search and seizure do provide you with protection, that protection is not absolute. If you give the police permission to see your records, then they may use anything contained within those records as evidence against you. If the police require more proof of your DUI, after your hospital visit they may request your blood test results.
In addition, if the police have probable cause to believe you were under the influence of alcohol or any other illegal substance at the time of the accident, they may take that information to a judge who can sign a warrant to obtain your records. If the warrant permits the police to review the blood test from the hospital, then the blood test results may be used against you in court.
Getting Legal Help
If you were driving under the influence of alcohol and caused an accident, you could find yourself in some very serious legal trouble. If you believe that your private medical records or blood tests may contain evidence against you (in that they will indicate you were intoxicated), then you should contact an experienced DUI attorney as soon as possible.
The earlier you contact a lawyer, the better your chances are of avoiding arrest and/or successfully defending yourself in court.
Find the right lawyer for your legal issue.
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Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about legal topics and insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything legal and insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by experts.