Can Contamination Affect a Georgia DUI Blood Sample?
Answer:
In a DUI case, yes — 100%. What most people don’t realize is that after your blood is drawn and placed in a vial, it’s shipped via FedEx to the Department of Forensic Sciences, where it’s tested in Decatur, Georgia, often months later. Contamination can occur at any point along the way: during collection, shipping, storage, or during the actual opening and testing of the sample. If your blood has been contaminated, you likely wouldn’t know until the results come back — only then might you discover the numbers don’t match what you actually consumed. In situations like this, it’s critical that the blood sample be examined and tracked at every step, from collection through shipping, retrieval, and testing. If this is your situation and you’re in the North Georgia area, give us a call.
In a DUI case, yes — 100%. What most people don’t realize is that after your blood is drawn and placed in a vial, it’s shipped via FedEx to the Department of Forensic Sciences, where it’s tested in Decatur, Georgia, often months later. Contamination can occur at any point along the way: during collection, shipping, storage, or during the actual opening and testing of the sample. If your blood has been contaminated, you likely wouldn’t know until the results come back — only then might you discover the numbers don’t match what you actually consumed. In situations like this, it’s critical that the blood sample be examined and tracked at every step, from collection through shipping, retrieval, and testing.
Where Contamination Can Happen
Blood samples in Georgia DUI cases are ultimately tested by the GBI’s Division of Forensic Sciences, but a lot happens before that sample ever reaches the lab:
- At the draw — the tube has to contain the correct preservative and anticoagulant, typically sodium fluoride and potassium oxalate, to prevent clotting and to stop bacteria from growing inside the vial. Without the right chemicals in the right amounts, the blood can begin to ferment.
- During transport and storage — the sample needs to be kept sealed and refrigerated (never frozen) throughout shipping and while it sits waiting to be tested, sometimes for months.
- At the lab — the sample has to be properly logged, opened, and analyzed following the lab’s validated procedures.
Why Fermentation Is a Real Risk
If a blood sample isn’t properly preserved, naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in the blood can ferment, actually producing alcohol inside the vial after the draw — meaning the number that comes back from the lab may not reflect what was truly in your system at the time you were pulled over. Because this process happens invisibly, inside a sealed tube, there’s no way to know it occurred just by looking at the results.
What a Chain-of-Custody Review Looks Like
Because contamination can happen at any single point in a chain that stretches from the roadside to a lab in Decatur, a proper defense review means tracing every step: who drew the blood and whether they were qualified to do so, whether the tube contained the correct preservatives, how it was packaged and shipped, how it was stored while awaiting testing, and whether the lab followed its own validated procedures when the sample was finally opened and analyzed. Any gap or irregularity anywhere in that chain is something a skilled attorney can raise to challenge the reliability of the result.
What to Do If This Applies to You
If you’ve had your blood tested in a DUI case, it’s worth having an attorney pull the complete chain-of-custody records and lab documentation to check for any of these issues. If this is your situation and you’re in the North Georgia area, give us a call.
