A story from the headlines at top

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRe ... 1-sun.html

Sobering !

DSM

Looks like the judge knows nothing about apnea....

DSM,

Look above on this page at the Streaming CPAP and Sleep Apnea News. That article is listed there, too.

*Points to the title of this thread and grins at Lori* Yes, I think that's where he found it.


(Apologies for hijacking the thread for a sec)

Lori,
Are you feeling foggy? How are you feeling after your few days off CPAP? I've been thinking about you even though I haven't had time to post.

LOL!!! College Girl, when I saw the subject line again when the link to the reply came in, I said, 'Whoops, I did it again." You can put it to the tune of Britney's song if you choose. I am just very flighty lately...can I blame it on lack of CPAP??? I just didn't understand what he meant by the subject line. I can see DSM shaking his head going, "Put this woman back on therapy NOW!!! She definitely needs it."

Thanks for asking. The past three nights I've slept remarkably well for me. I had a 5-hour straight sleep the first night, a 5 3/4 straight sleep the second, and last night was on a pulse oximeter that would wake me up if I forgot I had it attached to my finger and would tug me back into position, but still slept pretty darn well.

I am feeling rather energetic today. Yesterday was not a great day to judge because I ended up taking a painkiller in the mid-morning so I was very tired by the afternoon. But I am feeling really well so far. Maybe because I've had more straight sleep in the past three days than I've had in five months or so. I am just waiting now to see what the results of my O2 monitor shows from last night. Hopefully by tomorrow I will hear something. Thanks again for asking.

It's a good article to read. The story is a true heartbreaker, and there are no winners...

I would not be so quick to suppose that the judge knows nothing about sleep apnea.

In this case, apnea was advanced as a legal defense for Mr. Drystek's actions, and the judge was correct in dismissing this defense. If Mr. Drystek knew he had sleep apnea, and he did nothing about it, he bears even more responsibility for his actions. Apnea may have been the cause of the accident; but it is certainly not an excuse, especially a legal excuse.

Additionally, if Mr. Drystek did not know he had sleep apnea at the time, he still has an affirmative duty to get off the road if he was not alert enough to drive.

This is about personal responsibility. Those of us who frequent this site have taken responsibility for treating our sleep apnea--something the defendant in this case did not do--and he is now paying the price; tragically so.

How many visitors to this site once regularly fell asleep at red lights or drifted off the road in the middle of the day? Surely, this man must have known he had a problem, and he should have done something about it.

Henry Drystek, the defendant in this case, is not unique. It's events like this that highlight the need for greater awareness of sleep apnea and improved access to treatment.

George

If everyone as you say was "personally responsible," there would be no need for courts and judges in the first place. Yes it was a tradgety, but even some folks who are being treated for OSA still suffer from sudden sleepiness at any given time for unknown reasons. In my experience, it can overcome you like a theif in the night, before you even realize what is happening. But I've been dealing with OSA for 20 years, so what do I know....

Situations like this are a real moral dilemma & I can easily defend either side of the case but the fact we can't get away from is other innocent people being killed. That adds a big dimesion to such cases. There are relaives of the deceased who have every right to be very angry with the 'unfortunate' perpetrator.

I can quickly think of three situations where this moral dilemma occurs :-

1) Someone who has a 'dicky' heart and who while driving has an attack veers off the road & has a head on that kills people in the other vehicle(s)

2) The person who has (knowingly or not) a drinking problem (or who just had too many) & who drives & as result of reduced reaction time has an accident as in 1)

3) Apniacs as in this news story.


I have many friends who have had heart bypass ops & still drive their cars - thus far none that I know of have had fatal accidents but one came very close to causing a massive catastrophe. This person who was on heart pills was driving over the Auckland NZ harbour bridige when it had no divider to separate the opposing streams of traffic. He had a heart attack at the highest point in the middle of the bridge. His wife had to grab the wheel & streer the car down the far side in peak hour traffic, until it came to a halt.
No disaster that time.

The reality in life is that people rely on cars to get by & there are many out there on the road with the potential to kill - sad, but life on the road is a lottery but the odds are so much in our favour that we tend to look the other way. It only comes home when we have someone we know involved on either side.

DSM