Define "legit medical conditions". We live in a way overmedicated society and there are certainly doctors who will prescribe such ****tails rather carelessly for legitimately-diagnosed symptoms.
Yes. Don't get me on a soap-box, but what I (as an old guy) would think of as a cartoon "Doctor Feelgood" is now apparently par for the course. My understanding is that the "vital signs" got changed in the early 2000ies. You know how they say "how much does it hurt on a scale of 1-10?" Apparently that little question is underlying a lot of practice, and a lot of prescribing.
I don't know this driver's previous history, and whether the scripts were really his, but if we're going to go around loading people up like that, get them the hell out of their cars.
As to pain itself... I broke 1 rib maybe 6 weeks ago now, and I just got to where I can sleep on that side (and it's not comfortable). I can barely imagine Harvey's wife's pain.
The type of criminal who's willing (desperate enough) to break in to any vulnerable home will often take every prescription pill bottle they find, regardless whether or not they know wft it is, and then resell them to unsuspecting rubes as a great way to get a buzz. Could have been something like that.
I guess we don't know. My thing is keep people the hell away from motor vehicles if they're in no shape to drive. Tell people when you give them meds "You know that label that should be printed way bigger? A car
is heavy machinery..." I know, when you're 25 you're dumb. But (not to keep redirecting at the "word" rather than what happened,) no way do I think of this as an
accident. This was a
choice, no matter what we can say about
why or
how this guy got that combo pack into him.
OTOH, except maybe for the Seroquel, those are relatively obscure meds to "the street" and that wouldn't be particularly useful for getting a buzz. Also, that specific ****tail sounds more like a set of prescriptions from one source. They could even have been legitimately prescribed to treat a legitimate condition, but 25-year-olds tend to think they're bullet-proof and often ignore the warnings that come with medications, such as "don't mix with alcohol" and "don't operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery" .
ARGH.
Once self-driving cars work in mass numbers in all conditions... this crash is a billboard for making human operation of a motor vehicle against the law.
Because I like driving, I
hope the scenario is that he took a bunch of unfamiliar meds. He apparently passed the field sobriety test and a breathalyzer; so although those are far from foolproof, the open container might be unrelated. It might be exactly what he said: He was on three impairing drugs that he had perfectly good reasons to take.
I still say don't call it an accident. You've got a huge impairment risk, which you have to figure was a cause, probably layered on other risks (it's not as if we have a 48 hour sleep-wake history before the crash to nail down fatigue, for example). Some risks might even be environmental, hell, maybe the marked lane wasn't that well marked, who knows.
But you definitely come away from reading this stuff and thinking "that didn't have to happen."
I am guessing that if the guy is saying those are his prescription meds, they'll be found in his system, not just in a bag. (And who carries a bag of prescription meds that they're used to? Once you're taking them regularly don't you find a more portable arrangement, like a little pill box to keep, say, 1-3 of each for the day? Or am I just projecting old suburban dude prescription med-carrying practices onto this guy?)
