The best thing, then, would be to forbid driving, as they do in Japan and Russia?
A. Not across the board. That would be neither helpful nor realistic. In this country, not driving is a major handicap. And our studies show that half the patients wouldn’t stop driving anyway, even when their seizures are uncontrolled. What’s best is to fine-tune patient care in a setting of intelligent legislation. Q. Is that so difficult? A. You wouldn’t think so, but we did a study-published in Neurology last year-that showed driving restrictions for people with epilepsy vary widely across the country. They’re in a state of flux. Some states, for example, have fixed, seizure-free time before they allow a patient to drive. In Maryland, it’s three months. Others appear more flexible and vary the seizure-free intervals based on a person’s condition. Those states rely on a medical board or the patient’s physician to determine fitness to drive. A few states have still other versions. Q. How do you decide what approach is best? A. Data about who should be driving are hard to find, so we’
