DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Drivers caught with prescription drugs in their systems should not have their licenses suspended if they have taken the medications according to their doctors’ instructions, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court threw out a 180-day license suspension for Teresa Bearinger of Urbandale, who drove off the road into a brick mailbox after becoming distracted in 2011. After police responded to the accident that destroyed the mailbox and disabled her car, Bearinger tested positive for controlled substances, which turned out to be her neurological medications.
She told the officer the mix of prescription drugs and not eating much might have clouded her judgment.
Police did not file charges for driving under the influence of drugs, citing her instead for striking fixtures on a highway. But based on urine test results, the Iowa Department of Transportation moved to suspend her license for six months. She contested the suspension.
At an appeal hearing, her doctor, Lynn Struck, testified that she had prescribed all of the drugs found in Bearinger’s system. Struck said she had warned Bearinger that they may cause drowsiness, but that she did not prohibit her from driving.
An administrative law judge found in 2012 that Bearinger was taking the drugs as prescribed. But the judge agreed with the DOT that a prescription-drug defense, which can be used in a criminal case, did not apply to an administrative proceeding.
The department argued the difference was reasonable because license revocation proceedings are “remedial, rather than punitive.”
In a 7-0 ruling Friday, the court disagreed with DOT’s interpretation, saying Bearinger’s license could not be suspended. DOT’s interpretation would allow drivers who have taken cholesterol drugs, antibiotics and antacids that have no impact on driving to have their licenses revoked, Justice Thomas Waterman wrote.
The defense is not available to drivers who have drank alcohol along with taking medicine, abused prescriptions or driven against their doctors’ wishes, he said.
Bearinger’s attorney, Aaron Hamrock, said his client fought the DOT’s sanction for years because she felt it was unfair. He said Friday’s ruling was very significant for some drivers.
“You’re not going to have to make a decision: Do I take my medicine as prescribed by my physician or do I operate my motor vehicle? Essentially that’s the position people would have been left in without today’s decision,” he said.
A DOT spokeswoman didn’t return a message Friday.
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