Posted on 12/31/2015 8:08:31 AM PST by simpson96
Drunken-driving charges against an upstate New York woman have been dismissed based on an unusual defense: Her body is a brewery.
The woman was arrested while driving with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit. She then discovered she has a rare condition called "auto-brewery syndrome," in which her digestive system converts ordinary food into alcohol, her lawyer Joseph Marusak said in interviews this week.
A town judge in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg dismissed the drunken-driving charges this month after Marusak presented a doctor's research showing the woman had the previously undiagnosed condition in which high levels of yeast in her intestines fermented high-carbohydrate foods into alcohol.
The rare condition, also known as gut fermentation syndrome, was first documented in the 1970s in Japan, and both medical and legal experts in the U.S. say it is being raised more frequently in drunken-driving cases as it is becomes more known.
"At first glance, it seems like a get-out-of-jail-free card," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. "But it's not that easy. Courts tend to be skeptical of such claims. You have to be able to document the syndrome through recognized testing."
The condition was first documented in the U.S. by Barbara Cordell of Panola College in Texas, who published a case study in 2013 of a 61-year-old man who had been experiencing episodes of debilitating drunkenness without drinking liquor.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Prescribe a series of anti-fungals to kill off gut yeast.
May get her off this time but now that she knows of the condition if she drives drunk again she is guilty as charged.
High blood alcohol levels still impair driving abilities.
Drunk is still drunk. No matter the source of intoxication.
Fine, let her off this time. But she should have her license taken away, just like anyone who has a medical condition affecting their ability to drive safely.
Soooo, how do I contract this disease....
“Witch’s Brew?”
BTW, being very tired while driving seems often much worse than a mild state of inebriation.
On the other hand, the laws declare that certain blood alcohol levels mean that you are drunk, regardless of whether one actually is.
so is she now declared to be disabled?
Bingo.
A just conclusion. No malice. No danger.
Well did they suspend her license? A BAL high enough to get a ticket is still driving impaired regardless of its source.
Between this and the affluensa defense, I am gonna need a bigger fence to keep drunk drivers from crashing into my living room...
/sarc
Sounds like the dream disease for a drunk to get...
I personally am not afflicted with auto-brewery syndrome disease. I had to drink to get that drunk.
Sic the BATF on her.
Yeah.
“Some people have all the luck”
In observed experience, people who are self-brewing tend to not be in the best of health.
Just goes to show how absurdly low the dui limit is (not dWi) and why the dui concept should be repealed.
She obviously never felt drunk or would have known about the condition earlier - why do I feel drunk every time I eat?
Think how much more pleasant Monday mornings would be ;)
Doesn't really matter whether or not she ingests it or produces it, she's still operating a vehicle with alcohol in her system.
Good idea. Fungus in your gut can do a lot of damage aside from turning your dinner into a six-pack.
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