Phlebotomy Certificate

The determination of blood alcohol content (BAC), from samples taken directly from the human body, is certainly the most widely requested chemical analysis in analytical or forensic toxicology. Approximately five liters of blood are contained in the average person, which is about eight percent of total body mass or weight.

The two principal components of blood are plasma and the cells. Alcohol has a natural attraction or affinity to water at the molecular level and distributes in the body's total water. Its concentration, therefore, varies, depending on whether whole blood or a a blood component, such as serum, is selected for chemical testing.

Mr. Siirtola successfully completed a medical phlebotomy course taught by a medical training organization, using a standardized national text for proper protocols and safety standards for drawing blood samples from human subjects in clinical settings. Blood samples, properly drawn, preserved, and tested in a forensic laboratory, have smaller margins of error (MOE's) and are, in general, more accurate, than results obtained on breath testing devices.

This gives him a medical reference/standard for comparisons and contrasts to blood draws done by law enforcement in non-clinical field settings; improper techniques; improper preservation of samples; violations of written instructions and protocols for proper collection of samples; and failures to maintain proper chain of custody and refrigeration/storage of samples, as well as proper procedures for testing samples by means of gas chromatograph/ mass spectrometry devices.