While a doctor cannot revoke your driver’s license on their own, their report of a medical condition can set the revocation process in motion. Doctors are may be legally required to report certain medical conditions to their state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). This can trigger a DMV hearing that can lead to a license suspension or revocation.
Are doctors required to report medical conditions to the DMV?
In some states, doctors are required to notify the DMV if a patient has a medical condition that impairs their driving. These states are:
- California,1
- Delaware,2
- Nevada,3
- New Jersey,4
- Oregon,5 and
- Pennsylvania.6
Many other states have laws that allow or even encourage healthcare professionals to report these conditions to the DMV. Many state laws immunize doctors from liability, or carve out exceptions to medical privacy laws.
Medical professionals are frequently allowed to confidentially file this physician report form. Report forms generally include information about you, like your:
- name,
- date of birth,
- address,
- driver’s license number or ID card, and
- medical condition.
Other people, like police officers, judges, or even family members, can also report you to the DMV if you are allegedly physically or mentally impaired.
What is the DMV’s medical review process?
Generally, DMVs will notify you that your license may be suspended. You will have to submit documentation of your medical history. If your medical history suggests that you may be a safety risk, the DMV will schedule a hearing. A DMV hearing officer will listen to evidence concerning your driving ability. The officer will then decide whether to suspend or revoke your driver’s license.
After receiving the initial medical report from a doctor, the DMV can do 1 of 4 things. It can:
- do nothing, if the DMV does not consider the medical condition in the report to be a driving risk,
- request your medical history, often called a driver medical evaluation (DME),
- schedule a license reexamination or hearing, or
- suspend, cancel, or revoke your license, immediately, if the medical report suggests that you are a clear and present risk to the public when behind the wheel.
If the DMV issues an immediate cancellation of a license, you will have the right to request a hearing to contest the suspension.
Your medical evaluation
If the DMV requests your medical information, you often have to do it within a certain number of days. If you fail to provide the medical evaluation, or DME, in a timely manner, the suspension or revocation will go into effect. Falsifying a DME can lead to perjury charges.
In some cases, the DME can persuade the DMV that you are not a risk. In these cases, the DMV will take no further action against you. It will issue a license reinstatement, if necessary.
In other cases, the DMV will schedule a hearing or reexamination, or will notify you of your right to one. This hearing may be called a:
- medical suspension hearing,
- physical and mental hearing, or P&M hearing, or
- lack of skill inquiry.
The DMV hearing
This hearing takes place at a DMV office. A DMV hearing officer will conduct it. Notice about the hearing will be sent to you. If you do not attend, or do not request a hearing, your license suspension will go into effect.
You have a right to an attorney at this hearing, though at your own expense.
At the hearing, the hearing officer will try to determine if you can drive safely. To do this, the hearing officer may:
- review the DME,
- question you about your driving record, including any incidents with law enforcement,
- hear testimony from you,
- receive testimony from the doctor who filed the report, and
- have you take a written test, a vision test, or a driving test or road test.
After the DMV hearing, it may take anywhere between a few days and a month to receive the hearing results in the mail.
What medical conditions make me an unsafe driver?
Physicians may be required to notify the DMV if they diagnose you with any of the following conditions:
- Alzheimer’s disease,
- cataracts,
- dementia,
- diabetes,
- epilepsy,
- lapse of consciousness, or
- macular degeneration.
These conditions disproportionately affect elderly drivers.
Different states may have different mandatory reporting requirements that cover different conditions.
Additionally, healthcare providers may be allowed to report other medical conditions that they think might affect driver safety.
What can I do to protect my driving privileges?
If you have been contacted by the DMV regarding an alleged medical condition, you should strongly consider seeing a lawyer. With an attorney’s help, you can make sure you get a hearing. At the hearing, a lawyer can present the best case for you to retain your driving privileges.
For example, an attorney can raise any of the following defenses at the hearing:
- while the medical condition impaired you in the past, you are currently able to drive safely,
- you can effectively manage the medical condition, often with medication,
- the medical condition does not actually impair your ability to drive, or
- you can compensate for the medical condition by, for example, only driving during the day.
If the outcome of the hearing goes against you, an attorney can also help you appeal the decision.
What happens if I am deemed unsafe to drive?
If the DMV hearing officer decides that your medical condition or disability makes you a danger to the public, your driver’s license will be suspended, revoked, or restricted.
The DMV has a variety of options at its disposal. It can:
- lift the license suspension, but schedule a reexamination in the future to see if your condition has worsened,
- put you on medical probation, which requires you to follow through on medical treatment, submit regular medical reports, and report any changes in condition to the DMV,
- issue you a limited license that expires quickly and requires a reexamination to renew,
- issue you a restricted license that limits your privileges by, for example, forbidding night driving or requiring you to wear corrective lenses while behind the wheel,
- suspend your driver’s license, giving you the opportunity to subsequently prove that your condition has improved, or
- revoke your driver’s license, if the medical condition will not improve and cannot be managed.
How does the process work in California?
In California, doctors are legally required to report if you have lapses in consciousness to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.7 These conditions involve:
- a loss of consciousness or a marked reduction in responsiveness to surroundings,
- the inability to perform an activity in daily living, and
- impaired sensory motor functions used in operating a motor vehicle.8
Some specific medical reasons that have to be reported are:
- Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders,
- seizures,
- brain tumors,
- narcolepsy,
- sleep apnea, and
- abnormal metabolic states, like diabetes-related hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia.9
Doctors may also report other medical conditions to the DMV if the doctor believes, in good faith, that it would be in the public interest to do so.10
The DMV hearing
If the DMV believes that you pose an immediate risk, it can suspend your driver’s license right away. If this happens, you have a right to request a hearing to contest the suspension.11
Often, though, the DMV will inform you of the potential suspension and request a DME. You have to provide your medical history within 26 days.12
If the DME does not show that there is no potential risk to the public, the DMV will schedule a hearing. In California, this is called a physical and mental, or P&M, hearing. It can also be called a reexamination. The DMV usually has to notify you of the hearing at least 10 days in advance.13 However, in some cases, it can merely give you the right to request a hearing. In these cases, the DMV will send a notice, detailing what it intends to do with your driver’s license.14 You then have to request a hearing within 10 days of receipt.15
At the hearing, the hearing officer will decide whether to suspend, revoke, or place restrictions on your driver’s license.
Appealing the DMV hearing
You can appeal adverse outcomes by either requesting a departmental review, or by taking the case to court.
A departmental review has to be requested within 15 days of receiving the hearing’s outcome. The DMV will review the record of the hearing and reconsider the case. While this is pending, any license suspension will be postponed.16 The fee for a departmental review is $120.
An appeal can also be made to a California Superior Court. This appeal has to be made within:
- 35 days of receiving the notice of the results of the P&M hearing, or
- 95 days of receiving the notice of the results of the departmental review.
This appeal requires a writ of mandate. Filing one of these writs can cost between $2,500 and $3,000 in California.
Additional Resources
For more detailed information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Multiple Chronic Medical Conditions and Associated Driving Risk: A Systematic Review – Traffic Injury Prevention.
- Comparison of Unsafe Driving Across Medical Conditions – Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
- Older drivers, medical condition, medical impairment and crash risk – Accident Analysis & Prevention.
- Driving Patterns and Medical Conditions in Older Women – Journal of the American Geriatric Society.
- Medical restrictions to driving: the awareness of patients and doctors – Postgraduate Medical Journal.
Legal References:
- California Health and Safety Code 103900 HSC.
- 24 Delaware Code 1763.
- Nevada Revised Statute 629.047 (formerly NRS 439.270).
- New Jersey Statute Annotated 39:3-10.4.
- Oregon Revised Statute 807.710 and Oregon Administrative Rules 735-074-0050 et seq.
- 75 Pennsylvania Vehicle Code 1518(b).
- California Health and Safety Code 103900 HSC.
- 17 California Code of Regulations (CCR) 2806(a).
- 17 CCR 2806(b).
- California Health and Safety Code 103900 HSC.
- California Vehicle Code 13950 VC.
- 13 CCR 100.01(a)(6).
- California Vehicle Code 13801 VC.
- California Vehicle Code 13952 VC.
- California Vehicle Code 14100(a) VC.
- California Vehicle Code 14105 VC.
