Emergency Pain Pills And Trucking

I have a question regarding Emergency room narcotic pain killer and trucking.

I "know of a trucker" that workers for a mega carrier. The company requires urine and gain follicle testing upon starting.

This "Trucker" had a serious kidney stone and was raced to ER. His wife told ER staff that her husband was a trucker, and no narcotics to be administered.

Staff did not honor request and gave Morphine to the trucker. When trucker was made aware he confronted the main Dr. Dr. Acted like it was not a big deal. Stated morphine only be in his system for upto 8 hours, and the Dr. Would give a note for trucker to give to his company. Trucker asked if it would show up on hair follicle, Dr. Was not sure. (Wtf).

So trucker has some questions.

1.) Does trucker inform trucking company of the narcotic given in emergency room?

2.) Does trucker inform DOT in some way?

3.) What advice can be offered by professional truckers from this site? Anyone else been faced with this situation?

Can't seem to edit text. Trucker's wife said NOT to give narcotics. Damn spellchecker.

Yes, tell company right away. They will tell him how to handle it. It won't be a problem if he is upfront about it. I promise he's not the first one of these cases the company has had.

Yes, tell company right away. They will tell him how to handle it. It won't be a problem if he is upfront about it. I promise he's not the first one of these cases the company has had.

Thank You. This trucker has been with his carrier for 6 months. Had start up drug tests and a random drug test, so they have seen a track record of no nonsense, and this being an emgerency documented by ER as the ones giving narcotics (even though they should not have) hopefully keeps him employed and his family with food on the table. Thanks for advice Big Scott.

I had exact same scenario, minus the morphine. Having visited the ER, everything that happened in the ER will have been recorded and can be found in the ER notes. These notes can be requested by your trucker friend from the medical records department of that hospital. He will want to get these. They will show where the doctor or nurse administered morphine.

I had exact same scenario, minus the morphine. Having visited the ER, everything that happened in the ER will have been recorded and can be found in the ER notes. These notes can be requested by your trucker friend from the medical records department of that hospital. He will want to get these. They will show where the doctor or nurse administered morphine.

Thank You Pete B.! Dr. Gave him paperwork to give company. He is transiting this week from Van to Tanker school which he starts on 18th. Think he is worried could delay school or worse.

I had the same scenario play out when I fell from a ladder & busted my head open. I too was given morphine & was tested a month later. According to lab, it didnt come back hot but I had given the security person at the company all related ER paperwork when they tested me.

PS, you should forward the thread on tanker revenue declines to your "trucker friend" if they haven't pulled the trigger on switching yet. This might not be the best time to switch.

A one-time therapeutic administration of morphine in a hospital emergency room, with proper documentation, should not pose any problem. On blood or urine analysis opiates are not detectable after a few days past a single dose. The hair, however, are a different story. Once an opiate metabolite gets incorporated into the hair structure, it remains there. Studies have only been conducted for up to 90 days past last date of use and the traces are still there. It is logical to assume that since the hair does not excrete or undergoes any metabolism, those traces will remain. The hair will eventually grow out in length and the location of trace marker of the drug will grow far enough away from the root that it can be removed with a haircut.

Following factors will influence the hair test result:

Frequency and intensity of use/abuse. A habitual junkie and a one-time hospital patient should show very different results. The heavier the abuse the more traces will be present in the hair sample.

Technique, methodology and quality of the testing, both in hair sample preparation and the analysis method used, can vary greatly. A thorough forensic test by the FBI lab could find much tinier traces than a cheap commercial lab test. Test sensitivity can vary from detecting 0.1 to 10 nanograms/ml (average lab 2 - 2.5 ng/ml) ...

I've been in an ER with a kidney stone, and let me just say that it is critical to have strong pain relief. Your friend's wife was dead wrong in her request to deny him that, and I'm glad the doc didn't listen to her. This incident should not be a problem if he is upfront about it.

Prescription from a medical doctor = covered.