I recently blogged a post about the awful car crash in North Carolina caused when the driver, Ernest Brinson, went into diabetic shock. Brinson survived, but his eleven-year-old son was killed. Tragically, Brinson was on his way home from a checkup visit to the doctor when the crash occurred.

Anyway, here's an update on the situation: the district attorney's office of Johnston County, NC, is expected to announce sometime this week whether or not Brinson will be charged in the crash. It's a real ethical tangle, isn't it? On the one hand, this is a terrible tragedy and, obviously, the family of the boy must be devastated. On the other hand, don't diabetics have a responsibility to be extra careful when they drive? Says a NC Highway Patrol spokeman, "A person with a medical condition is just as deadly as any impaired driver."

The local tv station reporting on this crash also quotes a Raleigh, NC, endocrinologist, Dr. Anthony Azzi, as saying diabetics should always check their blood sugar before they get behind the wheel. Seems like a good idea to me, but I wonder how many diabetics bother to do this?

Not a week goes by that I don't hear at least one story of a car crash in which the person who caused the accident had gone into diabetic shock at the time of the crash. The latest one is particularly horrific: the crash killed the eleven-year-old son of the diabetic man in question. The accident happened in Johnston County, North Carolina, on Monday. To make matters even worse, horrified onlookers were unable to do anything to help. The driver's minivan had been spotted swerving around on the road. State troopers tried unsuccessfully to stop the van, assuming they had a drunk driver on their hands. Eventually, the vehicle ran off the road and crashed into the woods. The driver, Ernest Brinson, survived. His son, John (pictured), died.

Brinson is recovering from his injuries and one can only imagine how devastated he and his family are over this. It's something you would never get over, that's for sure. It's also a sobering reminder to all drivers out there, diabetic or not, to take care on the roads, and a reminder for diabetics to take special care of their health.