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Introduced Version Senate Bill 697 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 697

(By Senator Foster)

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[Introduced February 18, 2008; referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §17C-5B-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to blood tests for drivers and adult pedestrians killed in motor vehicle accidents; and authorizing the Chief Medical Examiner to determine qualifications for persons who may obtain samples and conduct blood tests in order to facilitate full testing.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-5B-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5B. POSTMORTEM TESTS FOR ALCOHOL IN PERSONS KILLED IN MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS.

§17C-5B-1. Blood test for alcohol in drivers and adult pedestrians killed in motor vehicle accidents; time limit for conducting test; who may conduct test; express consent to withdraw blood from dead body granted; granting civil and criminal immunity to person conducting test; fee for test.

When any motor vehicle driver or adult pedestrian dies in a motor vehicle accident in this state or dies within four hours after having been involved in a motor vehicle accident in this state, the physician in attendance, or law-enforcement officer having knowledge of such the death, or the funeral director, or any other person present when such the death occurred, shall immediately report such the death to the medical examiner of the county in which such the death occurred. Upon receipt of such the notice, the medical examiner or his or her designee shall take charge of the dead body and shall conduct, or shall cause to be conducted, within twelve hours after receiving such the notice and before the dead body is embalmed, a blood test to determine the presence and percentage concentration of alcohol in the blood of such the dead body.
The blood test and the obtaining of a blood sample required under this section shall may be conducted only by a person qualified to conduct an autopsy under article twelve, chapter sixty-one of this code or by a doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, registered nurse, trained medical technician at the place of his employment or county coroner who is deemed qualified by the Office of Medical Examinations the Chief Medical Examiner to conduct such the blood test or obtain the sample.
Any person who is to conduct a blood test or obtain a blood sample under the provisions of this section is hereby expressly authorized to withdraw blood from the dead body in the quantity necessary to conduct such the blood test. Any person withdrawing blood from the dead body and testing such the blood and any hospital or clinic in which such the blood is withdrawn and tested under the provisions of this section shall be is immune from all civil and criminal liability which might otherwise be imposed.
Any person conducting a blood test or obtaining a blood sample under the provisions of this section shall receive is entitled to a standardized fee in the amount determined by the Office of Medical Examinations the Chief Medical Examiner, which fee shall be paid from funds appropriated to the Office of Medical Examinations the Chief Medical Examiner.
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to preclude precludes the taking conducting of a blood test or the obtaining of a blood sample by any other person having the right to take any such the test or cause such the test to be taken while the medical examiner has charge of the body.

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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to enable the Chief Medical Examiner to determine qualifications for persons who may obtain samples and conduct blood tests.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)
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