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Medical/legal Q & A
MANDATORY REPORTING:
LAPSES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
by Dan Groszkruger, JD, MPH
Q. Can I be sued by a motorist injured in an auto accident with my patient (prone to lapses of consciousness), for my failure to report my patient to the local health officer?
A. Yes. California law requires physicians to report potentially dangerous drivers. If there are serious injuries and, e.g., the negligent driver is under-insured, his or her physician may unwittingly become the “deep pocket” in the injured party’s lawsuit.
Health & Safety Code § 103900 requires that every licensed physician “shall report immediately to the local health officer in writing, the name, date of birth, and address of every patient at least 14 years of age or older whom the physician . . . has diagnosed as having a case of a disorder characterized by lapses of consciousness.”
Disorders characterized by “lapses of consciousness” include Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, seizure disorders, brain tumors, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and other abnormal metabolic states, including hypo- or hyperglycemia associated with diabetes. They include conditions with “a marked reduction of alertness or responsiveness to external stimuli,” and inability to perform one or more activities of daily living, thus explaining why Alzheimer’s and related disorders are on the list.
Personal injury attorneys may sue the defendant’s physician, alleging that failure to report a patient who was prone to lapses of consciousness presumes “negligence per se” on the part of the physician.
The same law that mandates reporting also includes immunity from liability for making any such report. And, a physician need not report a patient who is unable to ever operate a motor vehicle, or whom the physician knows (and documents in the chart) to have been previously reported by another physician.
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