[posted on behalf of Art Caplan]
Should a physician be held responsible if an elderly patient causes a car accident while driving?
A Los Angeles jury recently decided that Dr. Arthur Daigneault was not responsible for the wrongful death of 90-year-old William Powers, whose longtime partner, a dementia patient, drove into the path of an oncoming car, according to a report by The Los Angeles Times. The driver Lorraine Sullivan, 85, survived, but Powers died of his injuries weeks after the crash.
The Orange County, Calif. jury cleared Daigneault, but the case raises the question of whether the physician should have reported his patient — who had suffered memory loss since 2007 and was prescribed an Alzheimer’s drug in 2009 — to local health authorities or urged the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke her license.
