Hyannisport, MA: Senator Ted Kennedy Admitted to a Boston Area Hospital Following an "Unidentified Health Incident."
Posted on 07/15/2004 12:13:16 PM PDT by MindFire
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/13/beer.drinkers.license.ap/ Man loses license after telling doctor about drinking
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man who told his doctors that he drinks more than a six-pack of beer per day is now fighting to get his driver's license back because the physicians apparently reported him to the state. Keith Emerich, 44, said Tuesday that he disclosed his drinking habit in February to doctors who were treating him at a hospital for an irregular heartbeat.
"I told them it was over a six-pack a day. It wasn't good for me -- I'm not going to lie," Emerich said in a telephone interview from his home in Lebanon, about 30 miles east of Harrisburg. Emerich received a notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in April that his license was being revoked effective May 6 for medical reasons related to substance abuse.
He has petitioned a judge to restore the license, and a hearing has been set for July 29. A state law dating to the 1960s requires doctors to report any physical or mental impairments that could compromise a patient's ability to drive safely, PennDOT spokeswoman Joan Nissley said. Nissley said she could not discuss the details of Emerich's case because of confidentiality requirements that also protect the doctor from being identified.
The law requires revocation of the license until the driver can prove he is competent to drive. Emerich said his heart problem has prompted him to limit his beer drinking to weekends.
...."What I do in the privacy of my own home is none of PennDOT's business," he said. Asked if he considered his client to be alcoholic, Horace Ehrgood, Emerich's attorney, said: "It depends on what your definition is."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Holy Crap! We're doomed I tell ya, doomed!!!!!!
HIPPA works! [not]
What if you told your doctor you smoked around your children!
How is drinking beer a mental or physical impairment? Under that doctor's definition, ANYBODY who drinks shouldn't have a license.
I will grant that one would likely be impaired if a six-pack plus of suds was consumed, but the patient did not tell his doctor that he went driving after imbibing. The patient told his doctor of his drinking only in relation to his heart trouble. This doc needs to lose his license... to practice medicine.
There is a lot left out of this story also. For example, this man's "irregular heart beat" could be a cause of concerning for his driving abilities, along with the additino of booze in the mix. I'd have to have more info before getting too upset about this.
Since when does the legal consumption of alcohol constitute a "physical or mental impairment"? Does the doctor have any proof that this man was driving while intoxicated? Perhaps he drank his six-pack at night before going to bed.
"So Tom, do you drink?"
"Why no Dr. Perhaps a glass of wine with dinner now and then. Thats about it."
Sheesh!
Hyannisport, MA: Senator Ted Kennedy Admitted to a Boston Area Hospital Following an "Unidentified Health Incident."
Sue the doctor for enough money to cover the cost of having a full time driver wiating for you at every moment of the day.
Then drink all you want.
(That's our story, and we're sticking to it.)
Yep, docs are required by law in most states to turn you in if there is anything in your medical history that could make you an unsafe driver. That new medication making you feel a little dizzy at times? Better keep it to yourself!
Their concerns are highly selective. Several years ago, a relative of mine who lives in Pennsylvania, who was already virtually blind in one eye, suffered macular degeneration in her other eye. She could see, but just barely. Her license came up for renewal and was, to my astonishment, automatically renewed. She voluntaily surrendered it a year later when she crashed her car into the front of a building while trying to park it.
I am sure most doctors would consider this guy to be an alchoholic if he drinks a six pack a day, but so what. If he does it at home after work and on weekends, he is no danger. Why should he have to put up with the stigma of having his license lifted and being publicly branded a drunk. And, of course, even if he gets his license back, what is all this going to cost him in insurance premiums, assuming he can still get insurance?
catchers, right, sure ;)
All this kind of thing is going to do is encourage people to withhold information from their doctors, which, in some cases, could be important to treatment. If there is no longer doctor/patient confidentiality, why would anybody tell the doctor anything except where it hurts? I don't care if the guy drinks a gallon of hard liquor a day, it isn't the state's business unless he is doing it while driving. Last I looked, being inebriated in itself wasn't a crime.
I think this is wrong. Whatever happened to medical confidentiality?
And whatever happened to our priorities? A doctor is obliged to turn in a man who drinks a sixpack a day, but he will be punished if he reports a man who goes around serially giving people AIDS?
That was already suggested on a local radio talk show and was quickly disproved. Apparently, the state had to cite the reason(s) for revoking his license and his heart was not a factor.
What a lightweight, but seriesly, if my Dr. gave that out, he'd be having a series problem from me.
FMCDH(BITS)
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