Should I report my colleague for this?

[ZZTopp]

My colleague had some kind of seizure about a month ago. She lost consciousness whilst out walking. She was upset and confused when she regained consciousness and was taken to A & E.

She spent a few days in hospital having tests, luckily everything appeared normal. She was told at the hospital she cannot drive for the foreseeable future.

She has been getting a lift to and from work, but I saw her one evening by coincidence driving from the shops.

I asked her the next day in work how she was finding not driving to see if she would admit driving but she just said it’s ‘quite difficult’. I then said I had seen her and she admitted she had driven to the shops. She then said she didn’t tell me because she feels judged. She said the doctors have found nothing wrong with her and she feels well. I said well I think the doctors know best and she replied with, ‘the doctors can only base their decisions and diagnosis on information and test results- my test results are normal and I know how I feel’.

should I report her to the DVLA / police / manager at work?

So there’s nothing wrong with her?

According to her, but she was strictly told not to drive

YANBU. I'd report her to the DVLA-she's been told officially not to drive. Unless she drives FOR work, there's no need to mention it to them.

I can't help but think of the Glasgow bin lorry crash.

They've found nothing wrong with her, doesn't mean there is nothing wrong with her. Maybe if she seizures whilst driving and ran over your child/drive into your car and killed your loved ones, you'd feel a little more protective of the restriction.

It's difficult but if she's been told not to drive she shouldn't be driving. I don't know what to do for the best. If she's potentially dangerous on the road because of (as yet) uncontrolled or unknown seizure-like symptoms then for everyone's safety she should leave the car at home.

Do you know the ins and outs of the conversations with doctors since her tests came back normal?

Agree. She might feel perfectly OK but she was told by medical professionals not to drive.

When would the doctors deem her safe to drive again?

The problem is you don't actually know the ins and Outs of what she's been told. It could be she's been told to drive as little as possible for the foreseeable which does happen and can easily be news which when passed on is 'i can't drive for now'. Neither is wrong, but easy to not have the true picture.

Personally, without knowing for sure she's been told not to drive I wouldn't report because you don't actually have any evidence she shouldn't be.

If you report her then she will know it's you because you have spoken to her about it. So reporting her is the right thing to do absolutely but I'm not going to say you should definitely do it because it will ultimately bring you grief.

However, my brother had one seizure and they found nothing wrong. Then he was fine for a couple weeks. Then he has two seizures in a week and they said morning was found. Then he was fine for 7 months. Then he had one every day for a week. Then it was a week gap, a few days etc all random. They said it was prob stress.

After two years of tests Including MRI and CT and the electrical tests they do for epilepsy...found nothing. However diagnosed with epilepsy cos obv he kept having seizures! Going a few weeks without a seizure and finding nothing wrong initially does not mean everything is actually ok.

I'd report her to DVLA. If she has been specifically told not to drive by medics her insurance will be invalid. She could be driving and kill someone. She is being very irresponsible. My dh was told not to drive and they found a brain tumour eventually. Initial tests showed nothing wrong. He did not drive for 2 years until he was given all clear by hospital consultant.

It's nothing to do with the doctor or their decision or test results. If you have a seizure you cannot drive for a certain length of time until its deemed lower risk. I think it's 6 months clear with no history/known cause, 12 months with a known cause.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine and Drs at the hospital told him not to drive "for the time being". It wasn't mentioned again despite numerous tests and appointments over the next number of weeks.

He needs to drive for work so it was a total ball ache. At the end of one appt with a doctor he asked, "any chance you can give me an idea of when I'll be able to drive again?" And the dr just waved him away and said oh you can drive now, and could before, there's nothing wrong with you.

Imo they shouldn't advise people not to drive unless they put it in the notes and have some kind of end goal to reassess the situation I.e. results of x test. Instead they leave people hanging.

She said sometimes these things do just happen and are unexplained - she thinks her blood pressure had dropped and she is not going to not drive indefinitely when ‘there’s nothing wrong with her’

You must report her to the DVLA immediately. If she's been told not to drive by a doctor then her insurance will be invalid. If she injures someone or damages property she may lose everything she owns, that's before considering the jail time of course.

You are legally obligated to inform the DVLA if you have a medical incident like a seizure, it's not for the doctor to permit you. Cannot believe there are people driving around who don't know this stuff.

Better to have a pissed off colleague than a dead one.

Well, that's helpful.🙄

Again, Google the Glasgow bin lorry crash. The driver knew he was having seizures but carried on driving. Just because they haven't found anything doesn't mean there isn't a problem. She could very easily end up killing innocent people and based on that alone I wouldn't think twice about going to the DVLA.

I know of a DOCTOR who didn’t surrender their licence after a brain haemhorrage because they knew how much of a ballache it is to get it back. They just didn’t drive for a few months.

My mum had a random seizure and was told not to drive for a year even though they couldn’t find the cause. Two months later she had three huge seizures. Whether they found something or not, she has been told not to drive. My mum’s insurance would have been invalid had she driven.

should I report her to the DVLA / police / manager at work?

I can't imagine why she thought that you'd judge her, especially when you went so far out of your way to trap her in the first place.

I would tell her that I thought she wasn't supposed to be driving and point out the risks to her and others. If I absolutely had to I would TELL her that I'm going to report it to the DVLA for them to check whether she can drive or not. I would not be trying to get her arrested or sacked. That's just spiteful

Christ, stay out of her business. I can't believe you tried to interrogate her and tested her to see if she would slip up. Sorry, op but you sound horrible. Mind your own business. Yes, she had a seizure, the docs didn't find a tumour or epilepsy to
Explain it but the law if you must be a certain amount of months seizure free before you can drive.
Just leave her be, you don't know anything of this woman's situation. The liklihood of her having another seizure if the scans have showed all clear is about the same as you having a seizure.
Just stick your nose out, who needs enemies with the likes of you around. It's Christmas week just be nice.