DUI Blood Test Defense in Florida: Blood Draws, Warrants and Your Rights
By Daniel D. Nawara, Sarasota criminal and DUI defense attorney. Last updated October 5, 2026.
Most Florida DUI cases rest on a breath test. Blood is different. It usually comes up after a crash, at a hospital, or when an officer gets a warrant, and the cases are often more serious. Blood evidence also has more steps where something can go wrong, and each step is a place to challenge it.
This page explains when police can take your blood in a Florida DUI case, what your rights are, and how blood results are challenged.
When can police ask for or take your blood?
There are four main ways the State ends up with a blood result.
1. A request at a hospital or medical facility
Under section 316.1932(1)(c), Florida Statutes, an officer can request a blood test when there is reasonable cause to believe you were driving under the influence, you appear for treatment at a hospital, clinic or other medical facility, and a breath or urine test is impractical or impossible. A person who is unconscious or otherwise incapable of refusing is treated by the statute as not having withdrawn consent.
2. A crash with death or serious bodily injury
Under section 316.1933, if an officer has probable cause to believe an impaired driver caused the death or serious bodily injury of a person, including the driver, the officer must require a blood test and the statute allows reasonable force if necessary. These draws raise constitutional questions of their own, discussed below.
3. A search warrant
An officer can ask a judge for a warrant to draw blood. A warrant requires a sworn statement showing probable cause, and what the officer swore to can be examined later.
4. Hospital blood taken for treatment
If the hospital drew your blood to treat you, the State may try to get that result afterward by subpoena. You have a right to notice and a chance to object first. See what to do when the State wants to subpoena your medical blood records.
Do police need a warrant?
A blood draw is a search under the Fourth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the blood does not by itself justify skipping a warrant, and that a state cannot make it a crime to refuse a warrantless blood draw. In general police need a warrant, valid consent, or a true emergency. Whether consent was voluntary, and whether there was really no time to get a warrant, are questions a judge can decide on a motion to suppress.
Can you refuse a blood test?
Refusing a lawful blood test request under the implied consent law carries a license suspension: 1 year for a first refusal and 18 months if you have refused before. The State can also tell the jury that you refused. But the request has to be lawful in the first place, and blood can only be requested in the limited situations the statute describes. If an officer has a warrant, you cannot lawfully refuse. See refusing a breath test in Florida and the 10-day rule for your license.
How blood evidence is challenged
Was the draw legal? No warrant, no valid consent, no real emergency, or a request made outside the situations the statute allows.
Who drew it? The statute lists who may draw blood for a DUI test: a physician, certified paramedic, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, other personnel authorized by a hospital to draw blood, or a licensed clinical laboratory director, supervisor, technologist or technician.
How was it collected? Tests must be done substantially in accordance with Florida Department of Law Enforcement rules. That includes how the skin was cleaned, what tubes and preservatives were used, and how the sample was labeled.
Chain of custody and storage. Who had the sample, where it was kept, and for how long. Poor storage can change a result.
The lab. Whether the analyst held a valid permit, how the instrument was calibrated, and what the underlying data shows, not just the final number.
Hospital serum results. Hospitals usually test serum or plasma, not whole blood, and a serum result reads higher than a whole blood result from the same sample. Florida's legal limit is measured in whole blood.
Timing. A draw taken an hour or more after driving does not necessarily show what your level was behind the wheel.
Drugs. A lab can report that a drug or medication is present. That is not the same as proving you were impaired by it.
Your rights after a blood draw
You may have an independent test done at your own expense by a qualified person of your choosing, and the officer may not interfere with that.
You or your lawyer are entitled to full information about the test, including the type of test, when the sample was collected, the numerical results and the permit of the person who ran it.
Your lawyer can ask that the sample be preserved and independently retested.
What to do now
Write down what happened at the scene and the hospital: who asked for blood, what they said, whether you were told you could refuse, and who drew it.
Keep every paper you were given, including any notice about your license or your medical records.
Watch the deadlines. The license review deadline is 10 days, and a notice about medical records has its own short deadline.
Do not discuss the case with police or an insurance adjuster.
Talk with a DUI defense lawyer early. Blood samples and lab data do not last forever.
Frequently asked questions
Can I choose a blood test instead of a breath test?
Not as the State's test. The officer decides which lawful test to request. You can ask for an independent test at your own expense after you take the one requested.
The hospital drew my blood. Can the State use it?
Only if the State obtains it lawfully, and you have a right to object first. Even then, a hospital result can be challenged before it is used at trial.
Can police force a blood draw?
Florida's statute allows reasonable force in crashes involving death or serious bodily injury. Whether a particular forced draw was constitutional depends on the facts, including whether there was a warrant.
How long do blood results take?
Often weeks or months. Charges are sometimes filed or upgraded after the result comes back, which is one reason to get a lawyer involved early.
Is a blood test more accurate than a breath test?
It can be, when it is collected, stored and analyzed correctly. That is exactly what the defense examines.
What if the blood shows marijuana or prescription medication?
Presence is not impairment. See prescription drug DUI defense.
Talk with a lawyer about your blood test
Nawara Law defends DUI cases in Sarasota, Manatee and the surrounding counties, including crash cases and cases built on blood evidence. Call or text (941) 920-5514, nights and weekends too, or request a free consultation with former prosecutor Daniel D. Nawara.
Related pages: Sarasota DUI lawyer · Medical blood records subpoena · Felony DUI defense · Leaving the scene of a crash · DUI fees
General information only, not legal advice. No outcome is guaranteed. Contacting the firm does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.