Ray here--
Over the last week or so, the story of my accident, diagnosis, trial and outcome has been mentioned or featured in a few newspapers and television newscasts. The benefit of that is that the story brings the subject of Auto Brewery Syndrome to eyes and ears that have never seen or heard of ABS. One of the pitfalls is that those people who are just now being exposed to the syndrome are limited in knowledge by the brevity of those reports. Because my case is unique--in that Oregon law prevents an outcome that permits the medical evidence of my diagnosis at the circuit court level--those reports are abruptly truncated in scope, unbeknownst to the new viewer or reader.
Now, anyone with a modicum of internet savvy knows that one of the steadfast rules for viewing or reading news reports on the web, if one wishes to retain a smidgen of hope for the human race, is this:
Never, ever read the comments.
Never.
Ever.
I’m a rule breaker. I’ve perused the reports, and I’ve read some of the comments. I’m a skeptic by nature, and some would probably say that I’m a bit of a cynic as well. So I’m jaded enough to avoid puncture by the misspelled barbs set forth by the average internet troll. Don’t worry about my fragile sensibilities, because in the case of the cyber world, they do not exist. As it is, my aim was not to count the number of incorrectly used homonyms per comment, but to get an idea as to what the most common misconceptions about ABS are for those newly exposed to the syndrome. Several things came up repeatedly, and I hope to address those today. As always, I profess the desire to keep this from rattling on and on, but I make no absolute promises. Common questions and/or concerns, in no particular order:
“Why was he driving when he knew he had this condition?”
The short and simple answer: I had no idea ABS even existed, much less that I had it. Most of the news reports I read stated the correct timeline, and detailed the process of discovery and diagnosis, months after the accident in December of 2014. I can only assume that reading comprehension, or acute lack thereof, leads many people to the question above. For those who read a shortened blurb about my case, the query is certainly understandable. Had I known that I had the syndrome, I most certainly would not have been driving that day. Or any other day. As a result of the circuit court trial judgment, my drivers license was suspended for one year, beginning January 15, 2016. That had no drastic effect upon my driving life, however, because I had voluntarily stopped driving in the early Summer of 2015. I had not yet been officially diagnosed with ABS at that time, but it was clear that I could not get behind the wheel and guarantee that my blood alcohol level would not become positive sometime down the road, even if it registered 0.00 when I first put the key in the ignition.
“He couldn’t have ABS. He wouldn’t be able to pass the required physical to get a Commercial Drivers License.”
Any of you reading this that have a CDL are chuckling to yourselves right now, and for good reason. For those of you that do not have a CDL, I’ll explain. In order to obtain and keep a CDL the driver must pass a Department Of Transportation physical. There is one national standard, regardless of the type of CDL, or the state in which the license is issued. The medical card that a driver receives when passing this physical must be renewed every two years, if in good health. If there are health issues that require more frequent check-ups, the frequency may be as often as every few months to a year. The physical itself includes a urine sample, vision test, hearing test, blood pressure check, health questionnaire, hernia test, basic balance and reflexes, as well as ear, nose, and throat checks, and probably one or two other things that I’ve forgotten, because they are so benign as to be easily forgotten. There is no blood test. No stool, no saliva, no EKG, etc. The urine sample is a drug and alcohol screening. None of these tests have Auto Brewery Syndrome in mind when given. The only way ABS could be caught would be if a subject was going through a flare at the exact moment that they were present at the doctor’s office for the urinalysis. And in that case, the subject would not be presumed to have ABS, but only to have consumed alcohol in a traditional manner, and therefore not given a medical card at all. In essence, a CDL physical, as currently conducted, would have as great a chance at diagnosing the Hanta Virus, Crohns Disease, or Tourette’s Syndrome as diagnosing ABS. A driver would have to self-report ABS, which would be difficult to do if the driver has never even heard of the syndrome, and surely has no idea that he or she suffers from it.
“I heard about a case in New York a few months ago that was dismissed by a judge. Now everyone is going to claim they have it, and get away with drinking and driving.”
Most of these remarks fall under the reading comprehension scenario mentioned above. In one regard, these comments have some merit. I would not doubt that a few desperate people may try to claim that they have Auto Brewery Syndrome in an effort to extricate themselves from an unwanted situation. I would also not doubt that their pursuit of that angle would be extremely brief. The multi-faceted testing performed over and over would show the falsehood of the claim before it even partially got off the ground. People may lie, but the numbers and the science never do, especially when they are repeated and then corroborated by other testing. And this is before the price tag to have this process undertaken and completed even enters the equation. Currently, that number lies in the tens of thousands. I don’t care what your deductible is. You don’t want to begin to be involved in something that expensive and time consuming if you know from the get-go that what you are claiming is false. The truth will come out, you’ll see no refund, and the legal hole you started in will become a gaping maw of your own doing.
There are a few other comments and questions that I would like to address, but as I write this, it is just past midnight. I have an alarm that will be ringing at 5 a.m. so that I may get to my Saturday community service on time. I will get to the rest as time allows. As always, feel free to ask questions, comment, drool on your keyboards, or what-have-you.
Thank you for reading
Over the last week or so, the story of my accident, diagnosis, trial and outcome has been mentioned or featured in a few newspapers and television newscasts. The benefit of that is that the story brings the subject of Auto Brewery Syndrome to eyes and ears that have never seen or heard of ABS. One of the pitfalls is that those people who are just now being exposed to the syndrome are limited in knowledge by the brevity of those reports. Because my case is unique--in that Oregon law prevents an outcome that permits the medical evidence of my diagnosis at the circuit court level--those reports are abruptly truncated in scope, unbeknownst to the new viewer or reader.
Now, anyone with a modicum of internet savvy knows that one of the steadfast rules for viewing or reading news reports on the web, if one wishes to retain a smidgen of hope for the human race, is this:
Never, ever read the comments.
Never.
Ever.
I’m a rule breaker. I’ve perused the reports, and I’ve read some of the comments. I’m a skeptic by nature, and some would probably say that I’m a bit of a cynic as well. So I’m jaded enough to avoid puncture by the misspelled barbs set forth by the average internet troll. Don’t worry about my fragile sensibilities, because in the case of the cyber world, they do not exist. As it is, my aim was not to count the number of incorrectly used homonyms per comment, but to get an idea as to what the most common misconceptions about ABS are for those newly exposed to the syndrome. Several things came up repeatedly, and I hope to address those today. As always, I profess the desire to keep this from rattling on and on, but I make no absolute promises. Common questions and/or concerns, in no particular order:
“Why was he driving when he knew he had this condition?”
The short and simple answer: I had no idea ABS even existed, much less that I had it. Most of the news reports I read stated the correct timeline, and detailed the process of discovery and diagnosis, months after the accident in December of 2014. I can only assume that reading comprehension, or acute lack thereof, leads many people to the question above. For those who read a shortened blurb about my case, the query is certainly understandable. Had I known that I had the syndrome, I most certainly would not have been driving that day. Or any other day. As a result of the circuit court trial judgment, my drivers license was suspended for one year, beginning January 15, 2016. That had no drastic effect upon my driving life, however, because I had voluntarily stopped driving in the early Summer of 2015. I had not yet been officially diagnosed with ABS at that time, but it was clear that I could not get behind the wheel and guarantee that my blood alcohol level would not become positive sometime down the road, even if it registered 0.00 when I first put the key in the ignition.
“He couldn’t have ABS. He wouldn’t be able to pass the required physical to get a Commercial Drivers License.”
Any of you reading this that have a CDL are chuckling to yourselves right now, and for good reason. For those of you that do not have a CDL, I’ll explain. In order to obtain and keep a CDL the driver must pass a Department Of Transportation physical. There is one national standard, regardless of the type of CDL, or the state in which the license is issued. The medical card that a driver receives when passing this physical must be renewed every two years, if in good health. If there are health issues that require more frequent check-ups, the frequency may be as often as every few months to a year. The physical itself includes a urine sample, vision test, hearing test, blood pressure check, health questionnaire, hernia test, basic balance and reflexes, as well as ear, nose, and throat checks, and probably one or two other things that I’ve forgotten, because they are so benign as to be easily forgotten. There is no blood test. No stool, no saliva, no EKG, etc. The urine sample is a drug and alcohol screening. None of these tests have Auto Brewery Syndrome in mind when given. The only way ABS could be caught would be if a subject was going through a flare at the exact moment that they were present at the doctor’s office for the urinalysis. And in that case, the subject would not be presumed to have ABS, but only to have consumed alcohol in a traditional manner, and therefore not given a medical card at all. In essence, a CDL physical, as currently conducted, would have as great a chance at diagnosing the Hanta Virus, Crohns Disease, or Tourette’s Syndrome as diagnosing ABS. A driver would have to self-report ABS, which would be difficult to do if the driver has never even heard of the syndrome, and surely has no idea that he or she suffers from it.
“I heard about a case in New York a few months ago that was dismissed by a judge. Now everyone is going to claim they have it, and get away with drinking and driving.”
Most of these remarks fall under the reading comprehension scenario mentioned above. In one regard, these comments have some merit. I would not doubt that a few desperate people may try to claim that they have Auto Brewery Syndrome in an effort to extricate themselves from an unwanted situation. I would also not doubt that their pursuit of that angle would be extremely brief. The multi-faceted testing performed over and over would show the falsehood of the claim before it even partially got off the ground. People may lie, but the numbers and the science never do, especially when they are repeated and then corroborated by other testing. And this is before the price tag to have this process undertaken and completed even enters the equation. Currently, that number lies in the tens of thousands. I don’t care what your deductible is. You don’t want to begin to be involved in something that expensive and time consuming if you know from the get-go that what you are claiming is false. The truth will come out, you’ll see no refund, and the legal hole you started in will become a gaping maw of your own doing.
There are a few other comments and questions that I would like to address, but as I write this, it is just past midnight. I have an alarm that will be ringing at 5 a.m. so that I may get to my Saturday community service on time. I will get to the rest as time allows. As always, feel free to ask questions, comment, drool on your keyboards, or what-have-you.
Thank you for reading
RSS Feed