Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog
One of roughly every 80 auto accidents involves a driver who crashed due to a medical emergency. The vast majority of these involved people who experienced “seizures, blackouts, or diabetic reactions,” according to the data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. When you are hurt in a crash involving an at-fault driver with medical problems, the defense may try to use that medical condition to avoid liability. Countering that may require a variety of steps. An experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer can advise you on what actions can help strengthen your case.
Deschutes County was the site of one of those accidents earlier this month. According to the Bend Police, a 61-year-old man driving southbound on the Bend Parkway “had a medical event” that caused his pickup truck to veer into the northbound lanes. There, the truck crashed head-on into a Toyota van.
The force of the collision partially ejected the van driver from her vehicle. Central Oregon Daily reported that both drivers were hurt and that the woman suffered life-threatening harm. The police cited the truck driver for careless driving, which caused an accident. The police did not disclose the nature of the medical event that afflicted the truck driver.
Generally, the driver who crosses a center line and enters an oncoming lane of traffic and, as a result, causes an accident is liable for the damage that the crash inflicts. However, when the driver who crossed the center line did so because they were experiencing a substantial medical emergency, the law may assess the accident differently.
How the Sudden Emergency Doctrine Works
Oregon law recognizes something called the “sudden emergency doctrine.” To understand how this legal concept impacts an auto accident lawsuit, reviewing some basics of injury lawsuits is worthwhile. The law requires an injured person to prove several things to recover compensation. They must demonstrate that the at-fault driver owed them a “duty of care,” violated that duty by driving negligently, and that the driver’s negligence caused the harm they endured.
The sudden emergency doctrine ties into the second of those components. If the defense invokes the doctrine and proves that a valid emergency occurred, they may be able to win because their conduct was not negligent. Oregon law recognizes various types of emergencies that allow a driver to raise this defense, including a child or animal running into the street, or an object falling into the street or onto their car. Additionally, a driver experiencing a serious medical event may trigger the doctrine.
However, a driver’s medical trauma will not automatically allow them to escape legal culpability for a crash. If a driver’s medical trauma was foreseeable, then they cannot use the defense to escape liability. For example, say a driver had a condition that caused him to experience fainting spells, and his doctor advised him not to drive. Nevertheless, the man drove, fainted behind the wheel, and caused an accident. In that case, the emergency was foreseeable, and the defense did not apply in a case against him. Alternatively, say a woman had prescription medication for a seizure disorder. The woman did not follow her prescribed treatment and, while off her meds, experienced a seizure while driving, which caused a crash. Like the first example, this is a foreseeable emergency, meaning that the at-fault driver cannot use the defense to escape responsibility.
Serious auto accident injuries — like the ones this woman from Bend endured — require well-thought-out strategies and plans for holding accountable those responsible for causing that harm. For thoughtful advocacy and beneficial solutions, whether you are taking on insurance companies or the civil justice system, the experienced Oregon auto accident attorneys at Kaplan Law LLC are here to provide clients with helpful advice and diligent aid in the pursuit of justice. To learn more, call (503) 226-3844 today or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.
