find_bruce wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2024 11:27 am
Andy01 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2024 9:47 am
My mate's CGM issued the first alert at 4, and frequently after that. I can't remember the exact numbers but at 4 the person is generally not considered to be impaired, but needed to do something to address the drop in sugar before impairment started. I seem to remember (but not sure) that impairment was expected to start around 2.5 or 2.8, and got worse quite quickly below that.
I cannot understand how a court cannot find the person culpable if they were a long "experienced" diabetic and ignored multiple warnings from the CGM - in my opinion that becomes willful negligence at the very least. This shows how bizarre and ineffective our justice system has become.
As I understand it the CGM alert level is a setting that can be adjusted. Any information I have is what filters through the media reports so could be inaccurate. As best I can figure he was 7.9 at 4:00 pm at Clunes, had insulin before he left Clunes at 4:50 pm, was down to 2.9 at 5:17 pm, tried to eat at 5:21 pm but was turned away & resumed driving at 5:36 pm, crashing at 6:07 pm.
The magistrate was critical of the Crown case that the negligence BEGAN at 5:36pm when he got back in the car. The problem with that is that it appears he was already at a point where his judgment was impaired. I'm no expert, but I would have thought that his negligence commenced by taking insulin without an immediate plan to eat & without a backup plan - the diabetics I know always carry a quick source of glucose (fruit juice, jelly beans etc) in case they're caught out because they know how dangerous a hypo is. This is even more so for a person who knew he been having hypos before dinner.
The Director of Public Prosecutions could still directly indict him, but who knows if he will or not.
Exactly right. The first thing my mate did after having most of his pancreas removed and being put on insulin was to put a stash of jelly beans in his car, my car, and my house (and obviously his house), as well as full-strength Coke in both house's fridges - to deal with those exact situations. This was based on the extensive advise and information pack he was given before even leaving hospital.
Sounds like the driver is a true moron - a reading of 7.9 isn't high enough to warrant a "decent" shot of insulin (my mate was told that if it gets over 10 (as a spike) it is getting concerning), and it sound like he just took too much, causing his sugars to crash to 2.9 from 7.9 - rookie error, except he wasn't a rookie and should have known better.
And yes, I do think that the there is some latitude on adjusting the alarm points (because different people respond differently) - I don't think it can be adjusted too far below the default 4 though, but my mate was strongly recommended to stick with 4 (as the lower limit) to be safe.
