Medical conditions that may support a DUI defense

A DUI charge can wreak havoc on your life. The allegations alone can be enough to tarnish your reputation and raise eyebrows at work, but a conviction can lead to lost employment, financial consequences, a lingering criminal record, license suspension or revocation and even incarceration. All of these penalties can haunt you for a long time to come, too, which can make it difficult to rebuild your life and secure the employment that you want and need.

With so much on the line, you have to diligently work to build an aggressive criminal defense that seeks to protect your interest. There are several ways to approach your case, and you have to find that one that’s most fitting your set of circumstances. While you might be able to point out law enforcement errors that can lead to evidence suppression or witness credibility issues that you can play up to your advantage, those issues aren’t always in play. And, in fact, they may not be your best legal argument. This is especially true if you suffer from a medical condition.

How an existing medical condition could be key to your DUI defense

There are several medical conditions that can give the appearance of intoxication and thus could play a key role in your DUI defense. Here are some medical conditions that could come into play in your case:

• Diabetes: Those who suffer from this condition can become dizzy and disoriented when their blood sugar is low. A police officer can easily misinterpret these symptoms as signs of intoxication. Making matters worse is when a diabetic suffers from ketoacidosis, which can generate a false-positive test result on a breathalyzer test.
• Dementia and Alzheimer’s: These conditions oftentimes leave an individual confused and unable to remember certain events, even those that just occurred. These issues can be misconstrued as intoxication, leading to a drunk driving arrest.
• Brain injuries: Brain injury sufferers can sometimes exhibit irritability, and they may struggle to communicate clearly. When this happens, the police might be too quick to chalk it up to impairment rather than an existing medical condition.
• Epilepsy: This condition results in seizures. After experiencing one of these seizures, sufferers may experience aggressiveness, memory loss, irritability and memory loss. A police office might think that these are signs of severe intoxication, especially when taking loss of consciousness into account.
• Sleep disorders: Medical conditions like sleep apnea can cause an individual to become drowsy behind the wheel, which could lead to traffic violations that are viewed as signs of impairment.
• Neurological disorders: There are several neurological disorders that can cause tremors and rigidity that may be seen as an indication of intoxication. This may be especially true if your condition causes balance issues.

To raise a defense based on a medical condition, you’ll have to have clear documentation from your medical provider. You’ll also have to be able to explain away the prosecution’s scientific evidence, particularly a blood alcohol test result. So, be diligent in gathering evidence to support your criminal defense.

Do you have questions about building an effective DUI defense?

If you do, then now is the time to seek out answers. After all, you need as much information as possible so that you can make fully informed criminal defense decisions that are in your best interests. We hope that our blog and the rest of our website is a good starting point for you, but we also encourage you to seek out any professional guidance that may be needed to aggressively fight back against the prosecution’s case.