Accident Liability when a Car Accident results from a Medical Condition
A driver who lost control of their vehicle struck several parked cars in a West Philadelphia parking lot. Police believe that the driver may have suffered from a medical issue, which led to the accident. The accident happened Saturday, June 1, 2013, shortly after 11:30 a.m. The accident occurred in the Aldi store parking lot located at 46th and Market Streets. Two people were hospitalized. One person was transported to Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania and another person was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The accident left some wondering where the accident liability would fall, if the person who caused the accident did suffer from a medical issue.
Pennsylvania is one of nine states that mandate health care providers report people with medical conditions or other impairments that could impact their driving ability. But the state is one of only four that include medical conditions other than those involving loss of consciousness or seizures. Unstable diabetes, heart conditions, arthritis, chronic depression, substance addiction and “excessive aggressiveness are all conditions that PennDOT says could interfere with driving ability. Each year, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation receives about 22,000 new medical reports from health care provider. Half of these reports involve medical impairments significant enough to merit recalling a license. About half of the license recalls involve people under age 65. In 2010, PennDOT issued about 7,000 restrictions on individual’s driving records. PennDOT also issued about 3,000 suspensions for non-compliance with requests for medical information.
Accident Liability in Pennsylvania
Under Pennsylvania accident liability law, a person must have prior knowledge of their medical condition to be liable for injury to another person as a result of their own medical condition. Therefore, victims of this type of injury should contact an experienced Personal Injury Lawyer skilled in researching prior medical records indicating the medical issue was known prior to the accident.