Does ACEP support mandatory reporting of BAC levels?
ACEP supports alcohol concentration testing of drivers by law enforcement officials in all crashes involving fatalities or serious injuries. This protects the role of physicians from taking on law enforcement roles. This promotes prosecutions and convictions of drunken drivers and facilitates intervention and treatment. ACEP opposes legislation providing permissive or mandatory reporting of patient alcohol concentration levels by physicians to law enforcement officials because such reporting fundamentally conflicts with the appropriate role of physicians in the physician-patient relationship. ACEP recognizes the high rate of relapse for persons involved in driving under the influence offenses, even with active intervention and punishment through the judicial system, and supports efforts by emergency physicians and society to identify and arrange treatment for people suffering from alcohol-abuse syndromes. How many states have BAC laws? As of August 2008, every state and the District of
