I saw this article today about a 26-year-old guy with T1 who passed out while driving and hit and killed a man. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail. Here is the article: http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_7590155
Speaking of jail sentences, I also saw another article about a guy with T1 who died in jail because the nursing staff didn't check his bg. Here is the link: http://www.startribune.com/editorials/story/1579360.html
I get Google alerts every day for articles on Type 1, mainly because I like to read about the latest research developments. But articles like these just break my heart.
The driving case is a sad story, but there isn’t enough information to tell me where I should be between the extremes of being outraged at the unfairness of the conviction, and being apalled that a diabetic’s self distructive tendencies took the life of an innocent.
A fasting diabetic driving is a pretty scary proposition, but before judging I would want to have several things answered. Was this the first time he’d passing out? Was he able to tell when he was going low? Did he test before driving? Did he eat after his blood work and test again before driving home? Straight “no” answers and he deserved everything he got and more. Straight “yes” answers and he deserves our sympathy (assuming the pre-driving blood tests were safe, obviously). From the judge’s comments I doubt the driver was doing everything right.
Cases such as this one make it more difficult for responsable diabetics to keep their drivers’ licences.
It used to be possible in Britain to be convicted of driving whilst under the influence of drugs, while on insulin. I’m not sure whether that has been repealed. Still the story that started the thread is very sad. 6 months for a life isn’t much to pay. My niece’s ex-boyfriend is serving 7 years for killing a pedestrian, whilst behaving stupidly. Not keeping control of your blood sugar and driving is also foolish and culpable. My husband of 37 years is type 1 and is always careful. Apart from a speeding ticket in a zone where they changed the limit,his licence is clean.
