I saw the article Ambulance driver in fatal I-65 crash had health issues and had to read it. The article was written by Kate Howard.
According to the article, the private ambulance driver, David Cline, suffered from epilepsy and the sleep disorder, narcolepsy. Apparently the company Cline worked for didn’t know he had these health problems. Cline left the roadway at 50 mph, hit a parked truck, and never hit the brakes.
Ten years ago, Cline had a similar accident and told the police he had a seizure. His license was temporarily suspended but was later reinstated (without restriction) a few months later after a doctor cleared him to drive.
It seems that since Cline had a valid driver’s license, privacy laws would have prevented his employer, Rural/Metro, from looking into his medical history before hiring him. My question would be – How about some questions for the physician who cleared him to drive ten years ago?
I understand that medications can control many potentially dangerous medical conditions so that a person can drive without restriction, but this man had a previous incident and was allowed to drive unsuspecting patients who had no knowledge that he was a time bomb. At what point does personal privacy take a back seat to public safety? As a society, this is something we really need to think about.
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