Medical Conditions Can Impact Blood and Breath Testing in San Diego DUI Cases
Breath testing for alcohol can be inaccurate due to a significant number of common medical conditions. These common medical conditions include asthma, diabetes, flu/fever, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD), among others. These common medical conditions can lead to a breath test result indicating a blood-alcohol content above .08, when this was not the case.
Contact a San Diego DUI Lawyer Today!
If you've been charged with drunk driving, and you believe that your test result was inexplicably high and in error, you may be correct. Law enforcement officers may not be knowledgeable about how medical conditions affect breath test results, or they may be indifferent to those facts. You need a skilled, knowledgeable and experienced DUI defense attorney to prove your point.
Call San Diego DUI defense lawyer Mark De Yoe at (619) 894-8295 or contact him online. Mark De Yoe has handled thousands of DUI cases in his 25 plus years of criminal defense work in the San Diego area courts, including downtown San Diego, Chula Vista, El Cajon and Vista. Mark is knowledgeable about the types of errors that can occur with breath tests and blood tests.
Inaccurate Breath Test Results
In order to obtaining an adequate sample of deep lung air, breath testing machines require an air flow for five continuous seconds, or longer. Not surprisingly, everyone's ability to blow into a breath test device for a continuous period of time will be different and can be affected by asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and heart disease.
Chemical Substances in the Breath
A major problem with breath testing, even for healthy individuals, is that it is possible for breath testing devices to misread naturally occurring substances in the breath as alcohol (such as acetone). People who suffer from diabetes can produce more of these chemicals that can be read as alcohol. When we are splitting hairs to arrive at a BAC of .08, one can see how important this misreading can be.
You May Have a Defense
You may have more defense options than you know. If a medical condition caused you to fail a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer test, talk to San Diego DUI attorney Mark R. De Yoe to schedule a consultation. Call (619) 894-8295 or contact the office online. Mark knows local law enforcement, local courts, local prosecutors and local judges. When a strong defense matters most, you can feel confident that Mark will explore every source of error in your case.
