Posted on 07/13/2004 4:41:41 PM PDT by mdittmar
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. Aside from a drunken-driving conviction when he was 21, Emerich, a pressman at a printshop who lives alone, said he has a clean driving record and does not drink and drive.
"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."
"He's been able to go to work, and he's got a heck of a nice work record. He's been able to function in all other avenues of life," the lawyer said.
Pennsylvania's transportation agency receives about 40,000 medical reports and revokes 5,000 to 6,000 licenses a year but does not keep any statistics on its reasons for doing so, Nissley said. She also said she did not know how many revocations get appealed.
Pennsylvania is one of six states that require doctors to report motorists with medical conditions that could affect their driving, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The other states are California, Delaware, Oregon, Nevada, and New Jersey.
All other states and the District of Columbia allow physicians to submit reports on a voluntary basis.
Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego-based watchdog group, said cases like Emerich's highlight a tension between medical privacy and public safety.
"Certainly, cases like this could lead individuals to refrain from giving their doctors adequate information to treat them," Givens said.
In Ireland if you don't drink at least a six pack a day, you die.
Proven fact.
I read it somewhere once.
I'd post the exact title of the thesis, but it's gone all blurry.... ;-)
Yeah, I can seem him being a possible danger to himself or other vehicles. I'd hate to hit a horse or a Moose.
Classic.
The daughter wasn't complaining.
There may be more to this story than is written. If he has a CDL (commercial drivers license) he is required to have a medical examiners certificate that verifies he won't have a heart attack or siezure while driving a 90,000 lb. tractor trailer. If he has a heart condition that is uncontrolled and is a heavy drinker, then they are following the law by reporting. If it's just a class c (ordinary) drivers license then this is a bit ridiculous.
The Irish, on the other hand, NEVER dilute their drink. No matter what the age! *LOL*
:-)
It's true though. Wine is a part of day to day living in France, from an early age.
The man lives in Lebanon, PA, about 20 miles east of Harrisburg. The story from the AP is all screwed up, what's new.
After work he goes to a bar and drinks a six pack then he goes home and drinks about 12 more beers. He is a big man and can handle it. He goes to work and does his job completely sober. He is now suing the doctor, as he should. The man admitted he drinks 12 to 18 beers a day to his doctor. But he does not drink and drive. And he paces himself after work at the bar to make sure he is NOT drunk. He stays late at the bar, around 11-12 and is sober when he drives.
This is a typical example of AP messing up a story.
Seems to me the Federal medical privacy laws would trump this state law. Wonder what a lawyer'd say about that.
Sheesh! PBR=gas!
I don't know. I for one am scared to death to drive if I have had a drink, so I am in no way trying to make light of drunk driving, but I hope that they pulled his license with more evidence than he drinks a six pack after work. For goodness sakes, we don't even know if he drives after he drinks this six pack. This has serious ramifications on many grounds. Does anyone else see the medical and societal ramifications here?
amen brother, yall in the north area get to drive awhile before you can buy more...Texas starts south of Waco..Dallas is Oklahoma. They can have it.
glad you did not use my name...thank you
That's 3 six packs a day! Fish don't sleep either.
"absolutely NO ONE is going to tell their doctors a thing from now on."....It is an interesting conumdrum. I live in Ontario, where doctors work for the state (literally; they are paid by the provincial government). My sister, a doctor, told me they are under obligation to inform the ministry of transportation if you have a medical condition that could affect your driving. They can pull your license. If they don't report a risk, they could lose their own licence to practise medicine. Shades of the Exxon Valdez captain who was a reformed alcoholic, if I remember correctly. The problem is that if patients realize that doctors are working for the state, they may not report their medical history/conditions and behavior accurately to their doctor for fear of losing their driver's licence. That doesn't do them any good medically, since the doctor has insufficent information on which to make health recommendations, but it preserves their right to drive and maybe to get to work even.
It depends on whether you can handle it. This lady obviously couldn't.
But does he have a CDL or just a standard drivers license? I have a CDL and if I get a DWI I lose my job. If I have more than one drink, my wife drives. (she's a non-drinker)
It's the irregular heatbeat he was hospitalized for that is the problem. Details aren't given, but I suspect it results in blackouts, or near unconsciousness. Alcohol use just aggravates the condition.
Actually, hearing this, there is probably more to the story...at least if you potentially connect the dots medically.
Alcoholics (or people that drink excessively) can get an alcoholic cardiomyopathy (which may lead to arrhythmias). Perhaps the Doctor believes that his continued ingestion of alcohol will only worsen his heart problems and reported him for that.
Regardless, if the Doctor reported him for "drinking a 6-pack", he ain't going to be in business for long...and is asking to be sued. Who says the guy EVER gets behind the wheel AFTER drinking the 6-pack? What about non-compliant diabetics (or others wioth medical conditions) that may lead to physical impairment? It is ludicrous.
BTW, we in medicine always take patient admissions as to how much they drink and then use a common multiplication factor to arrive at the likely amount...that factor being double. (sort of kidding).
You're quite welcome. *G*
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