This is your fourth DUI; Are You an Alcoholic?

I was contacted yesterday by a APRN who received her fourth DUI over the weekend. I also had a family member (remember I have a large family) who received a DUI over the weekend, but that's another post.

The APRN is of course concerned about her nursing license and the impact that the fourth DUI, which is a felony will have on her nursing career, employment, and liberty, as she may be facing jail time. She is also concerned about her children, her husband, and her elderly parents and how this will impact her family.

What is your opinion? Does one DUI charge/conviction mean you an alcoholic or do you see it as a form of alcohol abuse but not alcoholism?

What about the 2nd DUI? What about the 3rd DUI? What about the 4th DUI?

Comments

[LaTonia]

Thank you Greg for your comments.

[Greg Stocks CRNA EJD]

After a fourth DUI, and while holding an APRN license, the question of alcoholism now will be decided by only those who are not the licensee. (board, judge, endocrinologist, employer). Hopefully she has been willing to be admitted to a facility specifically dedicated to answering that question while also caring what happens to her. The benefit of treatment as we know can only help with the other issues she will soon face.

I assume that 'received her fourth DUI over the weekend' did not mean she got 4 DUIs over the weekend. Maybe she is 80 years old and has had one every 20 years. Maybe she had the worst day of her life and got plastered. Unfortunately, fairly or not, an APRN by virtue of the decisions she makes daily about the health and safety of others who trust she does so by virtue of her own health, welfare and competency. Fortunately, more than many who find themselves drinking and driving, she has much to lose and thus much reason to face and treat whatever has landed her here. It is hard to feel 'lucky' in any aspect now, but in 6 months, 12 months, when there is still a constant reminder she must stay sober in order to do the work she likely loves, she has found a strange new way of being calm when all about are nuts, she is 'lucky' compared to the alcoholic down the street who drinks everyday at work and nobody cares or asks how he's doing. Is she an alcoholic? I hope so.

[Jack Stem]

In todays world, with the numerous ads, articles, and TV shows (Intervention, Celebrity Rehab, Sober House, The Cleaner, HBO's documentary on Addiction), it's pretty difficult to discount the strong possibility of chemical dpendence when you get 3 or more DUI's. According to the DUI Foundation (www.duifoundation.org), the first time DUI offender has driven drunk 87 times before getting caught. That's a staggering statistic!

Chemical dependence is a chronic, progressive, fatal disease if untreated. It's a treatable disease and long term recovery is possible with early detection, intervention, and appropriate treatment. The current treatment paradigm is based on an acute care model. This means we wait until something that happens that can't be ignored. Then we usually send them to intensive outpatient for too short a time with insufficient follow-up. And then everyone is angry and disgusted when they relapse. If we treated other chronic diseases in this fashion there would be a huge outcry and the government would be investigating everyone and everything.

So, to answer your question, yes...a 4th DUI can't be interpreted as anything less than alcoholism/addiction (they are the same thing, although most people seem to think they are different).

It's amazing how people seem to think a DUI is no big deal. As a recovering addict...I NEVER had a DUI. Does that mean I don't have the disease of addiction? Of course not.

Getting more than one is a huge red flag. It's no different than catching someone injecting a controlled substance intravenously. Unless the drug has been prescribed by a physician and is intended to be injected intravenously, the only explanation is addiction.

As a peer advisor for nurse anesthetists and a recovery coach, I deal with this line of reasoning everyday. Of course, there are plenty of people who will disagree with my interpretation. But then again, denial is the major sign/symptom of the disease, in the addict as well as the people involved with them.