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People v. Fidler6/7/1971
This matter involves two interlocutory appeals from diverse rulings of the trial court on the defendant's motion to suppress (1) a blood sample and (2) a urine sample. The trial court denied the motion to suppress the blood sample, from which ruling the defendant appeals, and granted the motion to suppress the urine sample, from which ruling the People appeal. We affirm the ruling as to the blood sample.
However, for the reason set forth in Part II of this opinion, we disapprove of the court's consideration of the purely evidentiary question presented by the assertion of the doctor-patient privilege.
The defendant, Charles Junior Fidler, is charged, in count one of a two-count information, with causing death
by operating an automobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. C.R.S. 1963, 40-2-10. In count two he is charged with vehicular homicide. 1965 Perm. Supp., C.R.S. 1963, 13-5-155.
Following a collision on a state highway in Boulder County, in which the pick-up truck driven by the defendant was involved, a state patrolman found the body of a woman, who had been a passenger in defendant's vehicle, lying beside the truck. The defendant was in the vehicle in a semi-conscious state. The patrolman smelled alcohol on the defendant's breath and discovered two half-empty bottles of wine on the floor of the vehicle.
The defendant was immediately taken to a Longmont hospital, pursuant to orders of the patrolman, where doctors rendered emergency treatment of his injuries. However, he was first given a cursory examination by Dr. Rubright, a general practitioner.
The patrolman who went to the scene of the collision in response to the initial report of the collision and a second patrolman were at the hospital during the period when the evidence sought to be suppressed was obtained. Pursuant to the request of one patrolman, Dr. Rubright extracted a blood specimen for chemical analysis. The withdrawal of the blood presented no medical hazard nor did it adversely affect the defendant's physical condition. Dr. Rubright, by this time, had determined that defendant's physical condition indicated the need for a surgeon. He called Dr. Fowler, a surgeon.
Upon assuming responsibility for the care and treatment of the defendant, Dr. Fowler, pursuant to accepted medical procedures, performed a catheterization for diagnostic purposes. Catheterization is a process by which urine is withdrawn from a patient to determine by observation, microscopically and macroscopically, whether the bladder, kidneys and connecting tubes and tissues have been damaged.
In the catheterization process, urine is drained from the
bladder into a bag. A small amount of the urine is then used for diagnostic purposes and the remainder is discarded as waste.
The state patrol officer, who was present in the emergency room during this process, asked Dr. Fowler for a sample of urine to determine its alcohol content. Dr. Fowler withdrew a sample from the bag and gave it to the officer. The sample was sent to a toxicologist for chemical analysis.
The defendant, in his motion to suppress, alleged that both the blood and urine samples were obtained from the defendant under circumstances which rendered the taking within the proscription of C.R.S. 1963, 154-1-7(5) "in that the said samples were acquired by a physician . . . in order to properly prescribe" for his patient. He also alleged that the samples were taken without consent and "as such constituted a deprivation and den
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