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Jones v. State5/6/2003
caused by gunshot or knifing. Rather, the decision turned on the public interest in the proper administration of justice, for the decision plainly holds that " here the evidence is necessary to the proper administration of justice, it is taken out of the physician-patient privilege." Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, 726 So. 2d at ( , 21).
. Neither do we read the decision in McDuff v. State, 763 So. 2d 850 (Miss. 2000), as preventing the result we reach here. In McDuff, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that section 63-11-8 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 as annotated and amended is unconstitutional to the extent that it allows the results of a defendant's blood test into evidence when the blood is drawn in the absence of consent, probable cause, a warrant or incident to a lawful arrest. Id. at 855, 857 ( , 21).
. In McDuff, the defendant lost control of her vehicle, crossed the center line and struck an on-coming vehicle, resulting in the death of the driver of the on-coming vehicle. McDuff was treated at the scene and transported to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to her being transported, a law enforcement officer gave the treating E.M.T. a blood alcohol kit and requested that McDuff's blood be drawn at the hospital so that it could be tested for alcohol and drugs. While at the hospital, blood was drawn from McDuff for diagnostic purposes, but two tubes of blood were drawn pursuant to the request from the law enforcement officer. Id. at 852 ( -5)
. The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded McDuff's conviction for negligently causing death while driving under the influence of alcohol, holding that the blood drawn at the request of law enforcement could not be used because of the absence of probable for having it drawn. However, the court further held that on retrial, the State would be permitted to use the blood which was drawn by the hospital for diagnostic purposes. Id. at 857 ( ).
. One of the primary elements of Jones's crime requires proof that he was under the influence of cocaine. Although the urine specimen and test were not taken at the direction of a law enforcement officer, the specimen and resulting test results are the only source of evidence that Jones was driving under the influence of cocaine. A breath test was given to Jones by the officer, yet the breath test did not detect cocaine use. Without the results of the urine specimen and test, the State could not prove that Jones was under the influence of cocaine when he collided with Powell's automobile. Thus, to ensure the proper administration of justice, the medical records regarding the analysis of Jones's urine specimen must be removed from the protection of the physician-patient privilege.
. Having determined that the medical records regarding the test conducted by Bolivar Medical Center, in the interest of the proper administration of justice, have to be removed from the protection of the physician-patient privilege, we hasten to add that our holding in this regard should not be interpreted as giving medical personnel the authority to voluntarily turn over medical records, except as mandated by law, to law enforcement officials. Since the record in this case does not inform us that Jones's records were voluntarily turned over to the State, nothing we say in this opinion should be interpreted as permitting the State to obtain, without proper process of law, medical records which are covered by the physician-patient privilege. We simply hold that on the facts presented here, it was not error to allow the result of the drug analysis, along with the testimony of the hospital employees who took the urine specimen and performed the analy
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