Medical amnesty probable

By Jack Wagner

A medical amnesty and good samaritan policy may launch at Santa Clara this fall if everything goes smoothly on its path to approval.

Medical amnesty would allow students to get medical attention after alcohol poisoning without being apprehensive about university repercussions.

"I think it will mean that students are less fearful of calling for help and I think it means that we'll get to students sooner rather than later if they're sick," said Sean Brachvogel, student body president and one of the main student proponents of medical amnesty at Santa Clara.

Along with the medical amnesty plan comes the good samaritan policy. According to drafts, the good samaritan policy is "the elimination of judicial consequences for a student (or) students who may be under the influence of alcohol who make(s) a good-faith call for medical help on the behalf of a fellow student."

The medical amnesty and the good samaritan policies are being presented in tandem. The medical amnesty and good samaritan policy is in its final stages right now and is currently facing approval from University President Michael Engh, S.J.

If a student is granted medical amnesty they will not be liable for the usual $50 fine, will not be required to complete community service and will not have to meet with the Office of Student Life staff to discuss judicial sanctions.

Although students will be free from many of the sanctions they would have normally faced, they will now be required to undergo a one-on-one alcohol education program called BASICS and will likely be required to contact their parents if they are under the legal drinking age.

According to Alison Bateman, one of the co-chairs of the task force that is in charge of pushing the medical amnesty policy forward, BASICS is a non-judgmental program that increases motivation to change and lessen their alcohol use of students who have required medical attention due to alcohol intoxication.

She hopes that the new policy will increase the number of students who undergo this program and will help more students at Santa Clara who have been "slipping through the cracks," she said.

Medical amnesty only applies to the first time a student is in need of medical attention due to alcohol intoxication and subsequent incidents will require students to be addressed by the Office of Student life for disciplinary action.

The original proponent of medical amnesty at Santa Clara was Dan Steppan, the director of Santa Clara University Emergency Medical Services in 2007. He is credited as starting the conversation at Santa Clara.

Brachvogel joined this conversation when he took over the reins as the director from Steppan, but said that he quickly realized that he needed more political power to push this policy forward, which is why he ran for student government.

During last year's campaign, Brachvogel ran on a platform endorsing a medical amnesty policy.

According to Brachvogel, one of the main problems right now is that student EMTs are being called while they are off duty to come and give people medical help so that the intoxicated students don't wind up in trouble.

"Look, these are students who have already volunteered their time and effort into this program on behalf of the school and in a way they're sort of punished because they have this knowledge and have to be accessible to the student body," he said.

He hopes that a policy of medical amnesty at Santa Clara can eliminate this problem, but also says that he wants the policy enacted because now students will call for help sooner and will not have as much brain damage from alcohol poisoning.

Detractors towards the policy have said that it sends a mixed message and condones high risk drinking, but Bateman believes this is not the case.

"This is more about saving lives than trying to combat high risk drinking," she said.

Sophomore Kevin Shea said, "Its safer to get them help than to let them die."

There is a chance that Engh will find areas in the policy that he wants changed or revised that will push back the implementation date of this plan.

If it is approved then the goal is to put the policy forth in the fall of 2010.

The policy would be followed for two years to see the effectiveness of it at Santa Clara and on student's willingness to get help when they need it.

Contact Jack Wagner at jcwagner@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.