Please help! I have a question regarding someone that is a medical technologist testing positive for drugs not

Question

Testing positive for drugs not perscribed to her. She was sent to the emergency room at the hospital where she works as a medical technologist because staff(one or more?) thought her behavior was impaired or unusual. When she submitted her blood and urine the alcohol came back negative but she tested positive for benzodiazapines, which she is perscribed(Dalmane). They also sent her blood/urine out for GSMC testing and she is aware of several other drugs that will probably/most likely be present in her system( Xanax(non-perscribed), Vicodin(non-perscribed), more Effexor than perscribed, Welbutrin(non-perscribed), Seroquel(non-perscribed), Remeron(non-perscribed). She has no street drugs in her system. Employee Health is awaiting the results of the GSMC sendout from Mayo Clinic and will find these other drugs to have been in her system at the time. What is the protocol for employers at this point? Will she be sent to rehab? Put on probation, fired? And if she is fired will this info be

will information regarding her medical/drug records be available for future employers or will the information be unavailable due to a violation of law/ privacy? We live in the state of Michigan if that helps as far as laws and employment are concerned.

Answer 1

Unles the company says she must prove those legal drugs were prescribed I wouldn't worry. If she does have to prove they were prescribed she should hire a lawyer and sue their *** for being fascists!

Answer 2

Got no clue about the laws in the state of Michigan but it's not a good sign when a person has prescription drugs in their system and their name isn't on the prescription. At the very least, the employer will want to know the source of the drugs.
Seems to me that we aren't seeing the forest for the trees. The big problem is that this person is apparently taking drugs in a random, haphazard, russian-roulette fashion. To heck with the legalities, the person needs to get their head squared away and the rest of the problems will go away. And, until the person does get squared away, they aren't going to be much good for themselves or any employer no matter what the law says or doesn't say.

Answer 3

I think it depends on the company's policy. Many companies make you agree to submit to drug testing and reserve the right to fire you for drug abuse. It is also illegal to use drugs that are not prescribed to you, so they might turn her in. If I were her employer, I would fire her - you cannot have people operating medical equipment or interacting with patients who are stoned. She is also probably a theft risk (i.e. where did she get all of these non-prescribed drugs?). I am not sure whether future employers would be able to find this out -- I would guess that if they called her former employer for a reference, they would be able to tell them that they fired her, but I am not positve on the rules about that.

Answer 4

As a medical professionalist, i know that anytime one is suspected of any type of drug abuse, they are put on probation. Most of the time, suspension until completion of chemical abuse therapy. She will have to go before the review board, she may, or may not have her credentials revoked, she needs to write a letter to DISA.

Answer 5

not sure about the specific place she works at, but if she took drugs which were not prescribed to her, that makes them illegal and she should be fired, especially since she works at a medical facility. Great example.

Answer 6

Why do you want to see the report- you already know she was taking something, isn't that good enough, why do you need to know all the in's and outs of the report?