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?

Medical decisions are currently taking around 14 months through the dvla and that's for someone who has paperwork to state they are fit to drive.

Your colleague is finding it difficult but not comprehending the implications.

Don't report them to work unless they are driving for work however anything else is up to you.

If the doctor has told her not to drive, isn't he obligated to report it? I'm in the US, but when my mother had to stop driving due to brain tumors, the physician was required to report it to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Make her aware that her insurance will be invalid if she does have a crash.

A pensioner drove into a group of school kids near my office when I was my first job. One died. I can never forget. The elderly person should not be driving in the first place.
They did not find anything wrong with her does not mean there is nothing wrong with her. She had an unexplained seizure.
Many illnesses are very rare that do not have a name. And many people who suffer from long term illness do not have a diagnosis.

Actually, who was it that even introduced the word "seizure?" If the event wasn't witnessed by a medical professional, then it's not really clear what happened at all.

Just for comparison, I had convulsions for several hours in hospital after surgery, with loss of consciousness and incontinence. There were 2 doctors, an anaesthetist and several nurses arguing over whether they were seizures or not. The most senior doctor decided "I don't think it is..." and I was discharged the following morning with "no complications", no follow up and no instructions about driving.

It's not always an exact science.

No. Mind your own business and stop being a dick. What she does or doesn’t do is absolutely nothing to do with you.

I just want to repeat, doctors often don't find the cause of epilepsy. My sister has had epilepsy for some twenty years and the tests come back clear. Not identifying the cause of the epilepsy does not mean that the patient does not have it

You could point out her insurance won't be valid if she has been told not to drive and she has an accident, she may be more worried about that, and if she hit an expensive car she would have to pay for the repairs herself (and the fact that being uninsured is an offence). It is sods law something like that could happen.

If she's a danger on the road the Doctors should have reported it to the DVLA.

Fainting is one thing. Seizure is a very different thing.

I think you've overstepped the mark.

Not work. But you can report anonymously to the DVLA. All these people saying none of your business, until it's their child mown down when your colleague has a seizure driving. You'd report a drunk driver.

TELL the DVLA. Your friend is dangerous and could cause an accident.

My friend had to be seizure free for 12 months.

He actually didn't have another seizure for about 3 years.
Both of his seizures took place when he was driving - both very scary.

So was it you that assumed she had a seizure?

Damn right is report her.

This. If you have a seizure DVLA and the LAW state you cannot dirve. Not the doctors. Not even insurance. The law.

your licence is revoked
this means you will also be uninsured
driving whilst in this situation is a serious offence and can results in multiple fines for, both £1000 by dvla and then whatever else police charge you with

you can reapply for your liscense once you have been seizure free for 6months and have medical confirmation that no conditions or cause was detected

i know this as my brother had same thing as above. He was incredibly stressed and had a fit one day. No cause was found. He was actually signed off work due to stress for a long time anyway, and when he went back to work he got lifts or taxi.

I know this was a pain in backside for him. I gave him lifts when his direct family couldn’t. But he had a side benefit of walking lots and getting fitter, and he couldn’t travel for work which was part of cause of his stress. It is one of those things . There are many conditions that result in not being able to dirve like sleep apnea and it is ALWAYS an inconvenience for the individual and their family.

he re-applied about 7 months later, with his medical evidence and got his license back in place fairly quickly.

at the risk of confrontation, I would say that you state this to your colleague again, and say that you will be reporting it as an offence due to the incredibly high risk, same as you would if someone get into the car blind drunk. I would try to do this outside of work to not conflate the issue with work itself

Report to DVLA. No one should be driving AMA. If they are happy for her to drive then there is no harm done.

It does when it puts people lives in danger.

None of your business. My son had a seizure five years ago, tests showed no underlying problem and epilepsy ruled out. He’s never had one since. Stay out of it.

OP says it was a seizure, rather than fainting.

As said my friend's seizure were when he was driving. It was scary and could have been awful.
DH was in the car during the first one and had to stop his friend's car using his hands. Its a miracle no one was seriously injured.
The second time he had just come off the motorway, having dropped his child off at his mum's.

It's looking a little like the OP may be...

It's her business that her colleague is breaking the law by driving. There's a reason people aren't allowed to drive following a seizure. It's for other peoples safety as well as their own. It's incredibly selfish to drive when you've been advised not too. DVLA should be informed.

fairly Irrelevant. If you loose consciousness randomly and no medical reason can be found to confirm it won’t happen again you have to report to dvla.

clearly if you fall over, bump your head and loose consciousness there is a cause and effect and doesn’t need to be reported to dvla once cleared by doctors as fit to drive and there is no long term damage.

but randomly loosing consciousness without reason is still reportable.dvla state seizure OR BLACKOUT.

Did you see her have the seizure?

Was it actually a seizure?

How do you know so much about this woman’s medical history?

When you now report to the DVLA what information are you even going to provide?

I really do not like the way you’ve gone about this, you seem extremely keen to get into someone else’s business.

Would you say that if it was an elderly person with advanced dementia who was driving ?

Someone in a hobby group I’m in had some sort of ‘funny turn’, as a result of which she was told not to drive until she had had tests and a follow-up appointment.

She is mightily fed up that her appointment keeps on getting cancelled….. but meanwhile is following the advice she was given and not driving. Instead, DH and I give her lifts home from, and sometimes to, the hobby group, even though it involves us driving a mile to pick her up and another mile back past our own house to go to the hobby group.

(She hasn’t offered us any petrol money…. but she did send a plant and a thank you card. I realise that’s a different type of mn thread, and since I haven’t supplied a diagram, it didn’t happen)