DENVER—The Colorado health department announced Monday that a state toxicology lab won’t resume blood alcohol testing.
The announcement comes three months after Colorado suspended the lab’s blood alcohol and blood drug testing after a report raised questions about its work.
An internal report revealed concerns that a former supervisor openly rooted for prosecutors, failed to properly train employees and pressured lab employees to testify about procedures in criminal cases.
The decision to end blood alcohol and blood drug samples is a result of a loss of revenue and a diminished customer base, not problems in the lab, according to a news release from the Health and Environment Department.
During the suspension, hundreds of blood samples were sent to small, private labs across the state, The Denver Post reported (). A total of 800 blood alcohol samples were retested during the suspension.
The independent lab, AIT Labs, verified the accuracy of the samples, according to the release.
“The retesting results are overwhelmingly consistent with original results—95 percent verification—so this is not a quality issue. There is no unmet public health need for the state to resume performing blood-alcohol and blood-drug services,” Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer of the department, said in a statement. “These services can be provided—are being provided—by private sector laboratories at competitive prices.”
All other services provided by the state lab will continue, including screening for newborn illnesses and breath alcohol testing for law enforcement.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
