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If you are suspected of drink driving and have been involved in an accident and have then been admitted to hospital a different procedure applies to the one used at a police station.The police cannot use a sample of breath as evidence if it is taken at a hospital. They can take specimens of blood or urine at the hospital and only after they have ensured that the doctor in charge of the patient’s care does not object.

As the procedure used at the police station is more complicated than the one used at the hospital it is more common for the police to make mistakes with it.

There are a number of matters that a police office should be mindful of when conducting a drink drive procedure at a hospital. Should a blood or urine sample be required? Does the accused person have the mental capacity to understand the nature of the request? Have they suffered concussion? If they are unconscious or only partly conscious, should a specimen be taken without their consent?

In addition, it will also be necessary for the prosecution to establish that the analysis of blood or urine relied upon in a drink driving case is reliable. This can be difficult in itself.