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Police seize senator's urine from hospital

Healthcare Security Weekly, October 29, 2007

A Columbia, MO police officer seized a senator's urine from a University Hospital room after the legislator repeatedly refused to allow police to test his breath or blood alcohol content following an October 20 accident, reported the Columbia Missourian.

State Sen. Chuck Graham was arrested that Saturday night on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner in connection with a car crash, the newspaper reported.

According to a police incident report, Graham said he needed medical assistance while waiting in the breath-testing room of the police department and was taken to University Hospital. He refused a blood test at the hospital and a police officer seized a bag of Graham's urine as evidence.

According to the report, the police officer was met with resistance from Graham's attorney, a University Hospital physician, a nurse, a hospital administrator, and security guards. As the police officer attempted to leave the room, he was confronted by security guards and again as he tried to leave the emergency department. A hospital spokesman said staff followed appropriate procedures when they tried to prevent the police officer from taking a sample of urine to test it for alcohol. The police officer transported the urine sample to the police department for storage and later returned to the hospital with a warrant to collect a sample of Graham's blood, the Missourian reported.

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