
The procedures in place for victims of spiking incidents have come under scrutiny by Sinn Fein councillor Aoife Rose O’Brien, following the HSE’s declaration that attendance in an emergency department is “unnecessary” for suspected victims who are not feeling ill.
The Rosslare councilor had asked Sinn Féin TD Johnny Mythen to submit two parliamentary questions to Stephen Donnelly, the Minister of Health. Her questions focused on “if there is a protocol to expedite blood tests for patients who have been spiked” and “the timeframe for blood tests to be taken on a person that presents themselves as a suspected spiked victim.”
The minister decided to go through Emma Benton, the HSE’s General Manager of Acute Operations, as an intermediary rather than responding to Deputy Mythen directly.
As stated by Ms. Benton, “The Emergency Department’s (ED) role is to ensure that critically ill patients receive the necessary emergency care they require.” Laboratory and toxicological testing are performed in the emergency department to help treat patients who are critically ill. The urgency of the patient’s presentation determines when these tests should be performed. When a victim or potential victim of a spiking incidence is not critically ill as a result, the ED is not involved.
Therefore, in cases when a suspected spike victim believes they may have had an injury similar to this but is otherwise fine, there is no need for them to go to an ED. Such events ought to be reported to An Garda Síochána immediately, and precautions should be taken to heed the HSE’s spiking page recommendations.
According to the HSE’s spiking page, spiking occurs when someone gives drugs or alcohol to another person without that person’s knowledge or consent. This can include things like adding something into someone else’s drink, sneakily injecting someone with a substance using a needle in a public setting, offering substances that are disguised as other drugs, or purposefully giving someone more of a substance than they meant to have or knew they were taking—for instance, giving someone a double shot of alcohol instead of a single shot.