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State v. Vasquez1/21/2003
looks abnormal about the tube, he uses a different one. Milligan indicated that the blood is taken to a refrigerator within 2 minutes of being drawn. He indicated further that the refrigerator is set at between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius, which temperature is checked and recorded in a log maintained on the front of the refrigerator. Milligan also indicated that the blood never leaves his custody from the time it is drawn until it is placed in the refrigerator. Milligan testified specifically, with respect to taking the sample from Vasquez, that he observed the test tubes used, that they had not expired or been tampered with, and that he labeled the tubes and took them immediately to the refrigerator. Milligan testified that the hospital uses nonalcoholic swabs in the process of drawing blood for testing, but that he was not aware whether the hospital did any spot checks or quality control tests on the swabs to make sure they were the type of swab indicated by the label on their packaging. As to the anticoagulant contained in the test tubes, Milligan indicated that the hospital does not perform any spot checks to make sure that the substance is what it is purported to be. He did make a visual observation, however, that the blood drawn from Vasquez did not coagulate when placed in the test tubes.
The record before us also contains testimony from Debbie Johnson, the support service technician who orders and receives supplies for the hospital's laboratory. Johnson testified that she places orders for reagents and other supplies and that when those supplies arrive, she unpacks them and distributes them throughout the laboratory. She indicated that the reagents used to do legal blood alcohol testing come into the hospital packed in a box with a Styrofoam inner portion. The box has dry ice at the bottom to keep the reagents refrigerated. Johnson testified that the reagents are required to be kept refrigerated at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. When such boxes arrive at the hospital, Johnson does not take a temperature reading of their interior, but determines whether there is still dry ice in the bottom of each box. If there is not, she takes the reagents to a chemistry technician, after which point a supervisor will call the reagents' vendor to see whether the reagents can still be used. Johnson also indicated that the reagents bear an expiration date that is checked by a supervisor. If the hospital receives any expired reagents, they are disposed of. Johnson testified that when she receives a reagent shipment still containing dry ice, she takes it directly to the department where it is refrigerated.
Klingelhoefer, the medical technologist who tested Vasquez' blood, testified that she has a Class A permit for blood testing issued by the State of Nebraska. She testified that the hospital's policy is to run legal blood alcohol tests in accordance with title 177. She explained that reagents are substances used to test a chemical level and that they are used in performing legal blood alcohol testing. Klingelhoefer indicated that controls are samples with known values provided to the hospital by Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer of the Abbott TDxFLx machine with which the hospital performs blood alcohol testing, along with information as to what ranges the controls' values have to fall within when they are tested in that specific machine.
The hospital tests control samples at the beginning and end of each use of the machine. Klingelhoefer indicated that the hospital is required to maintain this machine on a regular basis, with certain tests being done on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, to ensure that the machine is running correctly. She described the various tests that are performed and indicated th
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