Hospital Drug Test

If you have to go to the hospital as a patient you may unknowingly be drug tested.  Hospital emergency rooms drug test many of their patients depending on the reason they are being seen, their mental status, or appearance.

A hospital drug test is actually a drug screen.  This means that they do not do a GC/MS test for confirmation.  They utilize a 9 panel drug screen rather than a 5 panel drug screen which is the most common in most of  drug testing facilities.  The levels of drug metabolites in your system are not checked so there is no cut off level.  They only check for the presence of drugs which means any level of drugs in your system counts as  positive results.

The class of drugs that hospital drug tests screen for are as follows:

1. Amphetamine

2. Barbiturate

3. Benzodiazepine

4. Cannabinoid (Marijuana)

5. Phencyclidine (PCP)

6. Tricyclic (Antidepressants)

7. Cocaine

8. Methadone

9. Opiates

These methods of testing are for screening purposes only.  The methods are not confirmed buy alternative and more accurate drug testing methods, and there are considered as presumptive.

The so called 'Hospital Urine Drugs of Abuse Screen' is kept in your hospital fiels and could be used against you if a court orders your hospital file to be entered in an impending case against you.  It is also important to note most if not all companies that offer workers compensation insurance are required to subject their employee's t to an immediate drug test upon being submitted to the emergency room or their the companies doctor's office.  The reason for this is to prove that you are the one responsible for your own injury, not the company that you are working for.  If you test positive for drug the company will be release from all legal responsibility which includes medical bills and time off from work.  In fact, in many cases you will be fired on the spot.