DUI Lawyer In Georgia

Reader’s Question:

When my brother was brought to the police crime lab for further testing because of his DUI arrest in Albany, Georgia, he told me that blood was drawn from him to test his alcohol level. What could be the possible defects of this blood alcohol test?

Bianca

Albany, GA

In almost all DUI cases, blood drawn for a forensic blood test is taken from the suspect via a vacutainer. The vacutainer contains two substances which are sodium fluoride, a preservative, and potassium oxalate, an anticoagulent. They are vacuum sealed, which explains why they are called vacutainers and they have expiration date but very few police officers, state crime lab personnel or phlebotomists pay any attention to the expiration date.

One possible defect of the blood test is a bad seal on the vacutainer, which of course is impossible to detect after the test because it has been opened. Another one would be the improper amount of sodium fluoride in the vial. The proper amount of sodium fluoride is critical since the vials are refrigerated prior to their delivery to the crime lab. Either too small or too much amount can lead to a false high test result. Also, improper amount of potassium oxalate can cause false blood test result. Organisms the environment such as candida albicans can get in case of a bad seal. The organism that may be in the DUI suspect’s blood will grow unless there is enough sodium fluoride in the vial. If any of these happened when your brother’s blood was tested for alcohol level for his DUI charge in Albany, Georgia, he will in all likelihood have a false high blood alcohol concentration reported by the lab.

Tags: DUI, DUI advice, DUI arrest, DUI lawyer