Insurance Law Intimidates Emergency Room Doctors from Alcohol and Drug Testing

Scott Smith

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Because a 1953 Ohio insurance law permits health insurance companies to deny claims for injuries that result from alcohol or drug use, emergency room doctors and nurses don't test patients for fear the costs of the procedure would be denied. Accordingly, many hospitals don't routinely test patients for drug or alcohol use and won't until the law is overturned. Of course, if the ingestion of alcohol or drugs would affect the patient's treatment or mortality, the appropriate tests would are performed.

Grant Hospital of Columbus, Ohio, claimed through it's representative, about one-half of motor vehicle accident victims taken to Grant have alcohol or drugs in their systems. Inasmuch as Grant estimates they have approximately 2400 Emergency Room patients a year, 1200 patients potentially could have their health insurance claims denied if tested and found to have drugs or alcohol in their system.

To not screen patients for drugs or alcohol ingestion has a negative far-reaching effect. Not screening patients permits the individual to escape being assessed as needing help for alcohol or drug abuse.

Moreover, many of the automobile collisions that occur in Ohio are a direct result of those operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If the individual who caused the collision is not tested, the innocent injured person who suffers an injury as a result is without medical evidence of the at fault party's drug or blood alcohol level.

If the patient committed a traffic offense or crime that resulted in hospital treatment a criminal defense attorney could argue the at fault party was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs as no test would be available to contradict this claim. The same would hold true if the patient was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and a test would exonerate the person.

In addition, property and casualty insurance company claims adjustors and insurance defense attorneys often argue the fact that because no alcohol or drug testing was conducted no evidence exists to prove the culpable but injured patient is guilty of recklessness.

Ohio lawmakers are currently preparing a bill that would overturn the 1953 law and would require hospitals to test patients for alcohol and drugs to maintain Level I and II Trauma Center status as set forth by the American College of Surgeons in Chicago which verifies that medical centers meet particular standards to maintain the rating. Mandatory patient screening for alcohol and drugs is not only beneficial to the patient but also to those who are injured by the patient.