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.)