Test A&E drunks for spiking, urge doctors

Drunk people arriving in A&E should be tested for signs that their drinks may have been spiked, emergency doctors and clinical psychologists have advised in a report.

The report said hospitals are often focused on just sobering up patients rather than examining if there could be a sinister explanation for their condition. Testing suspected spiking victims would help patients process psychological trauma as well as create evidence for police, which is often difficult to obtain later on.

The research, by the University of Bath and the University of the West of England in Bristol was published in the Emergency Medical Journal.