Examination and certification of a case for drunkenness

 In the casualty or Emergency Medicine Department, a person may be produced by police with a requisition or memo from a police officer not below the rank of sub inspector of police or with a requisition from magistrate to examine and certify for drunkenness.

Drunkenness certificate is written in a serially numbered register in duplicate , original being handed over to the police and duplicate retained in record for future reference.

For persons brought for drunkenness certificate AR or MLR entry need not be made if there are no injuries and no history of trauma. 

As in any case the person brought for drunkenness certificate need to be registered in casualty OP register with date, time, name, age, sex and brought by whom.

In the Drunkenness certificate write legibly with out any overwriting and corrections.

1. Name of doctor examining the person

2. Hospital name

3. Person name, age, sex and address

4. Sent with memo number or requisition no.and details

5. From whom

6. Accompanied by whom

7. Date and time of examination

8. Two externally visible personal identification marks

9. Symptoms: look for bilateral conjunctival congestion, breath smell of alcohol, incoherent speech, unstable gait, poor coordination, orientation

10. With the above observations we can conclude with any one of the following inferences

     1. Consumed alcohol and under its influence

     2. Consumed alcohol but not under its influence

     3. Not consumed alcohol

11. Blood and urine collection for alcohol consumption should be done only with written informed consent by the person except in situations like when brought by police for examination under section 53 CrPC.

12. If not willing for blood and urine collection, it also need to be written and documented as Not Willing consent.

13. If blood and urine samples are collected and sent to Regional Forensic Science laboratory, it should be sent along with a requisition and copy of this certificate.

14. Date and place 

15. Signature of medical officer with designation seal 

Method for Blood and urine collection.

1. Written informed consent ( if person is  brought in an unconscious state or not in a state to give valid consent, sample can be collected but need to get a consent before disclosure of results)

2. For blood, sample should be collected from peripheral veins after sterilisation with soap and water or mercuric chloride solution. AVOID ALCOHOL SWABS.

3. 10 Ml blood is collected in a sterile container with 10 mg sodium fluoride ( to prevent alcohol degradation) and 30 mg potassium oxalate

4. For urine samples, two urine samples need to be collected. One at time of examination collected during micturition and another at thirty minutes interval. If needed sample can be collected by catheterization for the second sample

5. Ideally urine samples need to be collected in front of medical officer to avoid changing of urine samples or collecting water instead of urine and other malpractices.

6. Urine samples need to be preserved with sodium fluoride (50 mg per 10 ml) or phenyl mercuric nitrate.

7. Blood and urine samples need to be tightly closed and sealed in front of medical officer with arrack and hospital seal need to be put on it.

8. The label of samples should contain the op number, name and age of person, date and time of sample collection and signature of medical officer

9. The samples along with requisition number and copy of drunkenness certificate written should be sent to Regional Forensic Science Laboratory ( RFSL) through a messenger or by registered post.

10. If samples cannot be sent immediately, it should be refrigerated at 4 degree Celsius. It should be sent as early as possible and not advisable beyond one week.