this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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I'm still amazed nobody made more noise about the fact she wasn't charged.

One can only possibly wonder why the usual suspects complaining about two tier policing and people getting away with crimes (even when convicted with lengthy sentences, yeah makes no sense) when they should be punished didn't seem too bothered about this.

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[–] Hossenfeffer 3 points 1 day ago

Hmm. I was present when a friend discovered he had epilepsy when he had his first seizure. It was life-changingly awful for him. He had to give up his university course (chemical engineering IIRC), his planned vocation, and - amongst other things - his driving license.

If this is a genuine case then I really feel for Claire Freemantle, 48. She's discovered she's epileptic, has accidentally killed two children, and now it is being implied she did it on purpose.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

At the time, her solicitor said her epilepsy had "never previously manifested itself" and Ms Freemantle "had always enjoyed good health".

Is this a real thing? Having symptomless epilepsy?

Or do they mean she had her first ever epileptic seizure while driving, and previously had never been diagnosed with it?

The wording to me implies she has been diagnosed with epilepsy but never had an epileptic seizure - that seems contradictory to me

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

My brother-in-law has a slightly unusual form of epilepsy called absence seizures where he zones out and ceases to function for almost a minute at a time. It's the exact opposite of what you'd want for a driver.

However he's been on medication to treat it and hasn't had an abscence seizure in over 10 years with his current medication. He lives in Cornwall and some of the council houses he is being offered are perfect but have problems like the nearest pharmacy being 20 miles away and buses being every 3 hours. Out of curiousity we checked to see if he could learn to drive and apparently if you've not had a seizure for 2 years then you can get rubberstamped for a provisional drivers license.

Ultimately he's turning down these places due to these issues, it's not being counted as a wasted bid since the drawbacks of the property are not just him being fussy. Additionally, I'm pretty certain he lacks the gross motor skills to drive even if seizures are no longer a problem. Will need to wait to bid on more suitable properties. People who live in the country really need better amenities and public transport.

At any rate that 2 year figure struck me as being very, uh, optimistic from the DVLA. Potentially any seizure should seriously curtail your ability to gain a provisional/full license.

[–] cook_pass_babtridge 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah it's real - people can have a seizure despite having no prior symptoms, and a scan won't be able to tell you they've had one unless they had it inside the MRI scanner. Unfortunately that's what makes it a plausible get-out-of-jail-free card for causing death by dangerous/distracted driving.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

If it had never manifested, there wouldn't have been a diagnosis. Bad wording for sure.