title: [Hypoglycaemia unawareness: report it to the CBR (the Dutch Driving Test Organisation) and revoke the licence to drive].
abstract: The Dutch legislator has adopted the point of view that people with diabetes and hypoglycaemia unawareness are unfit for driving a motor vehicle because hypoglycaemia unawareness carries with it an unacceptable risk for traffic accidents. There is no legal obligation for people in possession of a driving license to report changes to their state of health such as the appearance of hypoglycaemia unawareness. We argue that patients with newly diagnosed diabetes should inform the Driving Test Organisation about changes to their health status for moral reasons, and for reasons of judicial liability. This subject should be included in patient education, as should be strategies to minimise the risk of hypoglycaemia. In exceptional cases, the physician may opt to breech medical confidentiality and report the presence of hypoglycaemia unawareness in order to avert immediate, severe danger.
authors.affiliation: Academisch Medisch Centrum, afd. Inwendige Geneeskunde, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. c.t.krediet@amc.nl
authors.forename: C T P Paul
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Krediet
authors.forename: Joost B L
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001364:Awareness; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000150:complications*