Migraines & Driving Don't Mix

Migraines and driving don't mix. Unless you’re brand new to Migraine disease, this is not news to you. Who among us hasn't had to plan around getting a ride, or plan when to take our medication based on whether we could get a ride? There are all kinds of reasons not to drive with a Migraine. 

• If the pain is bad enough, most of us can barely move around, let alone drive.

• If it’s not so bad and we feel capable of driving, we still have to consider that the pain and nausea may be distracting us.

• Pain aside, we may have cognitive difficulties in prodrome, headache phase, and postdrome which can impair our judgment when driving. Our mental processing is slowed.

• During aura our vision may be impaired.

• Heightened light and sound sensitivity may not only make driving unpleasant, they may also interfere with the perceptions we need to drive well and safely.

Then there are the medications. Many medications used to treat Migraine have a listed warning about driving or operating heavy machinery. These include some abortive medications, pain medications, and even some medications used as preventives. The Captain of the cargo ship that hit the Oakland Bay Bridge in November 2007, causing a $70,000,000 oil spill with massive environmental damage, had the migraine abortive Imitrex and the pain killer Darvon in his system at the time. Even though he pled guilty to two environmental crimes, and the issue of whether he was operating the ship while impaired has not been adjudicated, it’s still a cautionary tale for all of us.

What does the law say about this? There are several different aspects to consider: What if our driving is impaired by Migraine medications? What if we drive with a Migraine and cause an accident? Can our drivers’ licenses be restricted due to Migraines?  I will deal with the first two this week and talk about drivers licenses in another sharepost next week.

Driving Impaired by Migraine Medications: The medication issue is the clearest. If the medication carries a warning against operating machinery or driving, and you drove with it and caused an accident, or you drove erratically and were stopped, you can be charged with DWI. The laws will vary somewhat from one jurisdiction to another. In general, however, when you take medication knowingly and voluntarily, and the medication carries a warning that it might impair your driving, you will be responsible for the consequences, including criminal liability.

It’s the knowing use of a drug that can impair you that gives rise to liability. For instance in the case of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation v. Moss, a license suspension was upheld on appeal where Ms. Moss had driven herself home from the Emergency room after receiving a shot of Demerol and other drugs which then caused her to weave in and out of traffic. The court held that even though the drugs were administered in an Emergency room in response to a medical need, she had still taken them voluntarily. More importantly, she knew the effects of the Demerol and chose to drive.