Published on British Columbia Medical Journal (https://bcmj.org)

Home > Driving, docs, and trust
Issue: BCMJ, vol. 51, No. 2, March 2009, [1] Page 55 Letters
By:

Dr Glynn-Morris wrote that a person who drives a car can afford to be tested for competency to drive the vehicle, and that such testing in people over the age of 75 would save lives [BCMJ 2008;50:550 [10]]. He suggested that the testing be done by an independent physician.

I agree. I have heard a rumor that some patients may leave their doctor if the doctor recommends the patient undergo a driving test. A doctor is supposed to help maintain a patient’s health, and a doctor needs the patient’s trust to do so. Requiring someone’s personal doctor to fill out the driver’s medical exam can erode the trust between the doctor and the patient.

A doctor’s job is to maintain his or her patient’s health. The Superintendant of Motor Vehicles’ job is to assure that people are competent to drive. Doctors should not have to assess a person’s competence to drive.

—Robert Shepherd, MD
Victoria

Source URL:https://bcmj.org/letters/driving-docs-and-trust

Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/march-2009 [2] https://bcmj.org/node/3302 [3] https://bcmj.org/sites/default/files/BCMJ_51Vol2_Mar_pv_0.pdf [4] https://bcmj.org/print/letters/driving-docs-and-trust [5] https://bcmj.org/printmail/letters/driving-docs-and-trust [6] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/driving-docs-and-trust [7] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Driving, docs, and trust&url=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/driving-docs-and-trust&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton [8] https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/driving-docs-and-trust [9] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B [10] https://bcmj.org/issues/driving-assessments [11] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176 [12] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop