Doctors are concerned about a new push for hospital staff to test all people injured in road accidents for drugs, so they can report the results to police.
For the past six months, Victoria Police has been asking doctors and nurses in emergency departments to take blood from people involved in collisions, including passengers, cyclists and pedestrians, so they can test them for cannabis, methamphetamines, benzodiazepines and alcohol.
The move has attracted criticism from some doctors who say it is time-consuming, increases the risk of needle-stick injuries, and could deter injured people from seeking treatment because they fear police involvement.
According to the Road Safety Act, any person over the age of 15 who goes to hospital after a motor vehicle accident must allow a doctor or nurse to take their blood. If they refuse they can be charged with an offence similar to refusing a breath test.
Until July, people involved in car accidents were tested only for alcohol in hospitals. The inclusion of a drug test is part of a campaign to reduce road trauma after research showed 20 per cent of the 332 people who died on Victorian roads last year had illicit drugs in their blood.
Instructions recently sent to hospitals said although the primary purpose of the practice was to reduce road trauma, if there was any doubt about who was driving during a collision, samples should be taken from everyone.
The document also asks that pedestrians and bicyclists be tested ''for the purposes of devising and evaluating programs'' for these groups.
The president of the Victorian branch of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, David Eddey, said although college members mostly supported a crackdown on drugged drivers, the policy raised a number of concerns.
He said it might not always be possible to talk to patients about the blood test. There was also potential for people to fear hospitals because the results would be sent to police.
''It's possible people won't come to hospital if they know they will have their blood tested,'' he said.
Dr Eddey said some doctors were also worried about the time involved, given the increasing demands on hospitals.
''It's quite a cumbersome process to take the blood,'' he said. ''It's not like taking a blood sample and sending it off to a lab. You have to take it from a separate needle and then you have to fill out forms, stick labels on things and store it in a special locked-up safe.''
Edward Ogden, Victoria Police's principal medical adviser, said police were working with hospital staff to try to streamline the process.
He said the practice was not focused on pursuing people who took drugs, but rather to inform the community that driving under the influence of drugs was a serious issue.
''This is about getting the message to the community that if you take drugs, have a prang and go to hospital, we'll know you have drugs in your system, so don't do it. This is about road safety,'' he said.
The president of Liberty Victoria, Michael Pearce, SC, said the law was reasonable, but should ensure people were not charged with other drug offences if they were innocently involved in a collision and not the cause of it. ''The law should provide that the test results are not used for any offence, except for the offence of driving under the influence,'' he said.

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Not a thing to say but Burrough's comment about a "nation of finks" come to mind...