Policies exempt students in need of medical attention from discipline

As more and more schools begin to re-evaluate their alcohol policies in an attempt to curb unhealthy drinking habits, one clause keeps cropping up in protocol guidelines across the country.

Though it may seem antithetical to widespread anti-drinking campaigns, medical amnesty clauses, which protect students who seek medical treatment for alcohol overdoses from disciplinary retribution, are gaining popularity.

"Our intention is that nobody tries to prevent medical assistance because of fear of discipline," Penn's Director of Alcohol Policy Initiatives Stephanie Ives said. "The deterrent has been removed."

Indeed, the majority of Penn's peer institutions seem to agree with Ives, as they have incorporated this "get out of jail free" component into their alcohol policies. Most medical amnesty policies, however, contain a stipulation that Penn's does not: mandatory counseling or alcohol education.

Dartmouth College and Yale, Cornell and Stanford universities, all require follow-up treatment for students who have had to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. The treatment runs the gamut from private sessions with an alcohol counselor to group discussions with fellow alcohol-poisoning veterans.

At Cornell, students must participate in an educational follow-up program at the student health center focused on online screenings and personalized feedback, according to the Cornell Director of Alcohol Policy Initiatives Tim Marchell.

"It's been shown to reduce high-risk drinking among participants," he said. This way, "we can increase the likelihood that we're going to be able to prevent future occurrences."

Though Penn students who find themselves at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after a heavy night of drinking can expect to receive a call from their house dean or a representative from Student Health Services for a "wellness check," there is no mandated follow-up treatment.

"We like to check in and make sure they're OK and support them" after an incident involving hospitalization, Ware College House Dean Nathaniel Smith said.

But sometimes a recovering student may need more than the guidance of their house dean.

"Every now and then, it will happen that it will be a medical transport, and I'll really think they should go to First Step, but I can't mandate it," Hamilton College House Dean Tabitha Dell'Angelo said, referring to an alcohol education program run by the Office of Health Education.

Dell'Angelo added that usually when she recommends the treatment, students agree to attend.

When students themselves were asked on the 2004 annual drug and alcohol survey whether those "who are transported to the Emergency Room for alcohol or drug overdoses should be required to attend a University-offered one-time (free) alcohol and drug education class," 67 percent said yes.

Though Ives said she initially thought that "if you were to say counseling was now mandatory, students would say now that's discipline," she said that the survey results were "a validation that it's not perceived as discipline."

She said that perhaps the University would implement the policy in the future, but "only if students feel that the integrity of the medical amnesty policy is maintained."

Director of the Office of Student Conduct Michele Goldfarb noted some of her own concerns regarding required alcohol follow-ups.

"Mandatory counseling is a controversial area," she said. "I don't know that forcing someone into [counseling] is necessarily fertile ground for change."

Dell'Angelo also highlighted additional constraints created by the medical amnesty policy.

"I have had students who have popped up in the [alcohol incident identification] system" for hospitalization after committing previous infractions and being forced to go to First Step, she said.

But, when the second incident occurs under medical transport circumstances, Dell'Angelo said she still "can't send them to Student Conduct even if I think that's what should happen."

"Really, my hands are tied," she added.

The often heated discussion that surrounds the issue of medical amnesty at Penn is not a rare side effect of the policy.

"It's certainly always a hot topic amongst the students and staff" at Dartmouth, said Ryan Travia, coordinator of alcohol and drug education programming there.

Marchell also acknowledged the controversial nature of the provision.

"There are some schools that have examined this type of approach and have chosen not to do it," he said. "Some individuals feel that it sends the wrong message," he added, specifically noting that Syracuse University does not have a medical amnesty policy.

Schools have seen varying results from implementing the clause.

Ives said that her survey indicates that "over 90 percent of the [responding Penn] students know about the medical amnesty clause" and "over 85 percent said that they would be more likely to seek medical attention because they know they're not going to be disciplined."

At Dartmouth, however, Travia said that myths about the validity of the Dartmouth medical amnesty policy -- called the "good Samaritan rule" -- still circulate on campus.

"I don't think people utilize it as much as we would hope," he said.

Ives said she does not have any data compiled about the rates of student hospitalization for alcohol overdoses before or after the medical amnesty policy was introduced, but she believes that "the drinking has not increased, but the behavior afterwards has changed."

At Duke University, Assistant Dean for Judicial Affairs Stephen Bryan said that raising awareness in the college community about the issue of hospitalization helped to decrease the number of students who needed medical attention because of an alcohol overdose.

"For several years, we have been very concerned about the number of students that are going to the hospital," he said. "We made concerted efforts ... by promoting responsible alcohol use through peer educators and the student health services ... and we did see a decline in those numbers."

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