Seeking Medical Attention Following a Montgomery County DUI

After a person is arrested for a DUI, officers have an obligation if a person appears to be in need of medical attention or request medical attention to provide that to them. If a person looks like they have been injured, for example, in a car accident, medical attention may be called at the officer’s discretion. If a person appears that they have not been any accident and there is no obvious injury, but they say to the officer that they are feeling a shortness of breath light-headed, or dizzy and need to see a doctor, an officer would also do that because the liability for the police department would be too big if they did not allow an individual to seek medical attention. If an individual wants to know more about seeking medical attention following a Montgomery County DUI, they should get in touch with a knowledgeable DUI lawyer that could answer their questions.

How Law Enforcement Determines the Necessity of Medical Attention

A police officer would determine if a person needs medical attention based on factors like if they look significantly injured or are suffering from a shortness of breath. These are easy for the officer to identify. Under other circumstances, it might be just that the person says to the officer that they are not feeling 100 percent and they need to see a doctor. Officers are usually trained to identify the obvious issues, but would not know everything so they often rely on people saying that they need medical attention. They could get medical personnel to the scene by way of an ambulance or have the person transported to a facility to have tests run to determine what is going on.

Just because an individual asks for medical attention or is taken to the hospital does not mean that they are off the hook. Oftentimes the officer would also go to the place giving medical attention, like a hospital, and be prepared at that location to give some field sobriety tests a breathalyzer test, or a blood test to a person. Medical attention is available. Officers would be accommodating to it if it is necessary or requested, but one should not assume that it is going to be a way to circumvent DUI charges.

Lack of Access to Medical Attention as a Defense

It is important for DUI lawyers to know if a person did not receive medical attention when they should have because the lack of medical attention could have a lot to do with how they were interacting with the officer. For example, if somebody is going through a medical episode, slurring their speech, had an inability to balance, or were incoherent with the officer, there might be other explanations besides alcohol. If they needed medical assistance or attention, it could explain a lot of what the officer might have otherwise mistaken for an alcohol-related offense. A DUI attorney aware of those kinds of issues as quickly as possible would be extremely helpful in making sure that the individual got the right kind of defense opportunity on a case.

A defense attorney could use the fact that a person did not receive medical attention as a defense, because if a person did not receive medical attention, it could explain results of field sobriety tests or explain some of the clues that the officer notes for an alcohol-related issue, such as slurred speech or a lack of coherence. Those arguments would be potentially helpful to an individual in court when it comes to the DUI charges.

Impact Seeking Medical Attention Could Have on a DUI Case

Seeking medical attention following a Montgomery County DUI would not hurt or help someone very much. If they receive medical attention, at the very least, the court system would know that there might have been something going on outside of an alcohol-related issue. If the physicians or the medical personnel come back with an explanation for a medical issue, that could be helpful. If there is a suspicion of alcohol, an officer is still going to try and get a breathalyzer test or a blood screening done to say that there might have been other medical issues going on, but they have enough evidence to charge this person with an alcohol-related offense. One should not assume that a medical issue is going to be an automatic pass when it comes to a DUI-related offense.

Value of a Montgomery County DUI Attorney

It is important for a person charged with a DUI who receives medical attention to contact a DUI lawyer because a DUI is a serious criminal charge whether somebody receives medical attention or not. Seeking medical attention following a Montgomery County DUI may complicate a situation. The reason is that those records that someone has received medical attention could be extremely helpful to the defense in court or could be harmful, especially if toxicity screenings were done by the medical professionals that show high levels of alcohol or other controlled dangerous substances within a person’s system. Strategizing how to use or eliminate those particular pieces of evidence in court is an advanced task. It is a task that requires a great deal of experience on the part of the defense attorney, as well. Making sure that an individual recognizes that this is not something that they want to go about by themselves is important when making any decision about how to proceed with respect to DUI. If an individual has been charged with a DUI offense and was not given the necessary medical attention, a s