Occasionally, there is a story about an elderly driver who confuses the accelerator for the brake and speeds into a crowd, killing or seriously injuring those who never had a chance to react. Questions rise as to how the driver could still be behind the wheel, leading to officials calling for a closer examination on elderly driving policies.
Many times, an elderly person's ability to drive is questioned by his or her physician, who might see signs of cognitive or physical problems that could seriously affect driving ability. Confronting the patient with this issue, however, can be fraught with privacy and reporting issues. There is also the potential problem of upsetting the patient who takes offense at the physician's suggestions or seeks another health-care provider who will not question driving ability.
To assist health-care providers with this very difficult and sensitive issue, the American Medical Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have teamed to produce a handbook called the "AMA Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers." It is hoped that the guide will help reduce the number of catastrophic injuries caused by these accidents.
The handbook provides health-care providers with methods of assessing patients' driving ability based upon their medications, vision, hearing, mobility, reflexes and judgment. It advises doctors on how to address driving issues with their patients.
The guide also addresses legal implications and explains that there are no uniform state standards regarding confidentiality and reporting, nor any on required testing for drivers over a certain age. For instance, only six states have mandatory requirements for reporting a physically or cognitively impaired driver. There are just 14 states that require drivers over 70 to test more frequently and 17 that require in-person renewals.
The handbook does caution doctors about divulging too much information and how to protect themselves from liability from either injured accident victims or from patients for releasing confidential information.
Uniformity and clarity in reporting and testing requirements-along with physician sensitivity in dealing with these issues are needed as our population ages.
