Utah nurse arrested in blood draw refusal

Prosecutor looks into hospital fracas

In this July 26, 2017, frame grab from video taken from a police body camera and provided by attorney Karra Porter, nurse Alex Wubbels is arrested by a Salt Lake City police officer at University Hospital in Salt Lake City. The Utah police department is making changes after the officer dragged Wubbels out of the hospital in handcuffs when she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient.
In this July 26, 2017, frame grab from video taken from a police body camera and provided by attorney Karra Porter, nurse Alex Wubbels is arrested by a Salt Lake City police officer at University Hospital in Salt Lake City. The Utah police department is making changes after the officer dragged Wubbels out of the hospital in handcuffs when she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah nurse said Friday that she was scared to death when a police officer handcuffed and dragged her screaming from a hospital after she refused to allow a blood draw on an unconscious patient.

After Alex Wubbels and her attorneys released video of the arrest, prosecutors called for a criminal investigation and Salt Lake City police put Detective Jeff Payne on paid leave Friday.

"This cop bullied me. He bullied me to the utmost extreme," Wubbels said in an interview. "And nobody stood in his way."

The Salt Lake City police chief and mayor have apologized and changed department policies in line with the guidance Wubbels was adhering to in the July 26 incident.

She said she acted as any good nurse would, following her training and protocols to protect the rights of a patient who couldn't speak for himself.

"You can't just take blood if you don't have a legitimate concern for something to be tested," Wubbels said. "It is the most personal property I think that we can have besides our skin and bones and organs."

Payne didn't return messages left at publicly listed phone numbers, and the Salt Lake Police Association union did not respond to messages for comment. The department and a civilian board also are conducting reviews.

"I was alarmed by what I saw in the video with our officer," Police Chief Mike Brown said.

Police body-camera video shows Wubbels, who works in the burn unit, calmly explaining that she could not take blood from a patient who had been injured in a deadly car accident, citing a recent change in law. A 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed that a blood sample cannot be taken without patient consent or a warrant.

Wubbels told Payne that a patient was required to give consent for a blood sample to determine intoxication or be under arrest.

Otherwise, she said, police needed a warrant. Payne insisted.

The dispute ended with Payne saying, "We're done, you're under arrest" and physically moving her outside while she screamed and said, "I've done nothing wrong!" The department said the frustrated Payne had called his supervisor and that several people went back and forth about the time-sensitive blood draw for over an hour.

"It's not an excuse. It definitely doesn't forgive what happened," police spokesman Christina Judd said.

Wubbels followed hospital policy and advice from her bosses when she told Payne that he could not get the blood sample without a warrant or consent from the patient, said her lawyer, Karra Porter.

The detective left Wubbels in a hot police car for 20 minutes before realizing that blood had already been drawn as part of treatment, her attorney said. She was not booked or charged.

"This has upended her worldview in a way. She just couldn't believe this could happen," Porter said.

Payne is among a group of officers who are certified phlebotomists, called upon regularly when a blood sample is required for a police investigation.

In response to the incident, Judd said the department updated its blood draw policy last week to mirror what the hospital staff uses. She said officers have already received additional training but that they are still sorting out the department's response since the law changed.

"We want to know where something went wrong, what we didn't know, and why we didn't know it," Judd said.

The agency has met with hospital administration to ensure that it does not happen again and to repair their relationship.

Information for this article was contributed by Michelle Price and Brady McCombs of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/02/2017

Upcoming Events