Apnea Forum Posting

Posted by michael on February02, 2000 at 06:36:26:

In Reply to: my mate is to see oral/maxillofacial surgon help!!!!! posted by KAREN on February02, 2000 at 00:53:05:

Karen,

I believe we discussed this before. However, now that you mentioned that your husband is a truck driver it is extremely important that he seek a solution. If he has sleep apea and driving he is a danger to other people on the road. People with family and friends that are being placed in danger. I found a letter from a woman whose husband had undiagnosed sleep apnea. Her husband had a car accident and the rest is in her posting. The original is on forum 16 ...
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Posted by Andrea on September 06, 1999 at 20:20:15:
I hope that I anm posting in the right area on this forum. I actually stumbled across it while looking for something else. I just wanted to share my story and hopefully spare another family from the anguish that we have been through for the last 2 years.
In July, 1997, my husband, a healthy 29 year old, was heading home on his lunch hour to run an errand. HE "blacked out", "nodded off", "fell asleep" at the wheel for no more than 45 seconds and ended up under a tractor pulling a bushhog type mower. The man driving the tractor was thrown from the tractor and subsequently died as a result of his injuries. My husband was not badly injured.
We were, of course, traumatized by the event and could not figure out why he would have fallen asleep in the middle of the day. No drugs or alcohol were involved and no charges were filed at the scene. That was Friday. On Monday, I insisted that he see his doctor to find out why he fell asleep. His primary care physician talked to him for about 10 minutes and pronounced sleep apnea. The sleep study performed by his ENT showed that he had a severe case with disturbances in his sleep over 1000 times a night! He was immediately placed on a CPAP and will continue to use it for the rest of his life. He is a different person now that he uses it and we never even knew he had a problem before the accident.
However, that November, the Georgia State Patrol brought charges against him -- following too closely and vehicular homicide in the 2nd degree. We were stunned. It was an accident!!! (And how could he have been following too closely if he was unconscious!?!) We were assured by numerous folks that he would never be indicted, but, surprise! He was! And, to spare you the two year saga, last March a 6 person jury CONVICTED him on both counts! He faces up to a year in jail!!! for having sleep apnea!!!! Apparently, the jury did not "buy" the defense of sleep apnea -although we had the foremost ENT in the Southeast testify that his condition had caused the accident, not carelessness.
We are appealing the decision, but live daily with this hanging over our heads. To add insult to injury, the family filed a civil suit against us for wrongful death and it will probably lead to our financial ruin.
My husband is a wonderful, family man, who is a manager for a multi-national company. He is a wonderful father to our two little boys -- to whom I will never be able to explain if the appellate court upholds the verdict.
I am sorry to ramble on so long, but I just wanted to warn everyone out there to be careful and DO NOT DRIVE if you are not being treated for this horrible thing!!!!
I always thought that people would understand that it is no different than if he had had a heartattack at the wheel -- and we all know that he would never have been charged if that had happened. Obviously, the jury did not feel that this disease/disorder is a "real" thing!
AARRGGHH!!
So -- be well and be safe.

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I don't want to scare you with that letter but it is so important that he find a treatment that works for him. Cpap works for a large number of people...UPPP, Septoplasty, LAUP, etc can work too but they typically require multiple surgeries and may be a partial fix. I sent you the link for tracheostomy before. Those are the options. You husband needs to consider the fact that he has osa and find a solution or make a career change before he hurts himself or someone else on the road.

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