Monica Chavez: Seizure Mom

[DrPhil]

This is regarding the court case for the February 17, 2011 incident. I could not find a thread about this.

http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/06/1...zure-mom-crash

http://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-wo...ry?id=16564021

Originally Posted by ABCNews

Jurors will begin deciding this morning whether a Colorado woman ignored the medical advice of doctors not to operate a vehicle when she plowed her SUV into a pickup truck, killing a family of five.

Prosecutors say Monica Chavez, driving more than 100 miles per hour with her two kids, apparently had a seizure when she entered an intersection, went airborne and smashed into two cars on a Thornton, Colo., street Feb. 17, 2011. Randy and Crystaldawn Stollsteimer, and their kids, Sebastian, Darrian, and Cyrus, died instantly.

Prosecutors say Chavez should not have been behind the wheel because of another seizure-like episode she had in 2006. After the 2006 episode, doctors told Chavez in the emergency room that she should not drive until cleared by a neurologist, prosecutor Tiffany Score said.

[AOII Angel]

Who cares about the seizure? She was driving 100mph with her children in the car. This woman obviously doesn't take the safety of others into consideration. Her reckless actions put others lives at risk. Would a crash at lower speeds have been instantly fatal? Now add in the fact that she is driving against the advice of doctors. My question, though, is why her physicians did not report her to the DMV. The only way to make sure that she complies with such a suggestion is to take away her license. It's the responsibility of her physician to follow-up. Sad, sad case. Completely preventable if not for a selfish woman and her lack of forethought.

[DrPhil]

It would be one thing if they claimed that the seizure sparked the 100mph reckless driving.

Instead, she is an irresponsible idiot whose irresponsibility was met with a seizure. Life simply caught up with her and unfortunately 5 people lost their lives.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

It would be one thing if they claimed that the seizure sparked the 100mph reckless driving.

Instead, she is an irresponsible idiot whose irresponsibility was met with a seizure. Life simply caught up with her and unfortunately 5 people lost their lives.

Exactly. The fact that she continued to drive despite being warned of the danger to herself and others is more evidence of her irresponsible nature.

[DrPhil]

Nancy Grace was handing those defense attorneys (guests for her show) their ass.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Who cares about the seizure? She was driving 100mph with her children in the car. This woman obviously doesn't take the safety of others into consideration. Her reckless actions put others lives at risk. Would a crash at lower speeds have been instantly fatal? Now add in the fact that she is driving against the advice of doctors. My question, though, is why her physicians did not report her to the DMV. The only way to make sure that she complies with such a suggestion is to take away her license. It's the responsibility of her physician to follow-up. Sad, sad case. Completely preventable if not for a selfish woman and her lack of forethought.

Based on how reckless she was, this may not have prevented a thing.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Nancy Grace was handing those defense attorneys (guests for her show) their ass.

I'd feel sorry for them. I'm sure they didn't have much to work with in the first place. Why in the world would they agree to go on TV?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Based on how reckless she was, this may not have prevented a thing.

It may not have, but it would also be one more charge to through at her. This same thing happens with the elderly. At some point, family has to step in and take away the car keys when they keep driving without a license, but you hope they get caught before something serious happens.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I'd feel sorry for them. I'm sure they didn't have much to work with in the first place. Why in the world would they agree to go on TV?

Especially Nancy Grace? No way was that going to end well.

[DrPhil]

For the record I do not think those were Monica Chavez's attorneys on Nancy Grace. They were friends of the show who Grace likes to yell at. They seemed to take it all in stride and respond with laughter.

[Kevin]

I don't think the seizure thing is really the best defense. I think it is something the defense is trying to use because really, that's all they have. This likely went to trial because a decent plea wasn't offered or none at all was offered. We'd likely be at just about the same trial with or without the seizures. I'm not sure why Grace or anyone else is so fixated on that aspect of it.

That said, I pretty much despise Nancy Grace. She's a former prosecutor who has been in trouble many times for prosecutorial misconduct. Now she has a show where she disseminates her very one-sided perspective and infects jury pools. She is bad for the justice system.

[Kevin]

Not guilty.

Nancy Grace [typical] neglected to mention that the Defendant's daughter said this about the seizure:

"We had started to move," she said. Serriah said she noticed her mom's legs get stiff and the vehicle speeding up fast.

So if that's the case, yeah, if 1) epilepsy had never been confirmed and 2) there hadn't been an episode for over 5 years, I don't have a problem with the verdict.

Nancy Grace is such a piece of crap.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

It would be one thing if they claimed that the seizure sparked the 100mph reckless driving.

Yep.

If Nancy Grace is at fault then every media outlet is at fault. The original ABC News article that I posted states that she had not had a seizure since 2006. However, it was stated that after the 2006 seizure, doctors recommended that she not drive until cleared by a neurologist. Did a neurologist ever clear her? That was one of the points of contention. And what is up with this?

I am impartial to the daughter's report of the incident. Oh well, weak case and there was not enough to convict. The judge predicted this would happen.

[Kevin]

As an intern, I worked on a case where the mother hadn't had a seizure in a long time and was a licensed lifeguard (she was also a friend from high school). She was teaching her toddler to swim. Grandmother was watching. Grandmother went to answer the doorbell. When she came back, both our client and the child were face down in the water and not breathing. The child died, our client did not. It's actually a reported case:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_ca...=1&oi=scholarr

Our client, at the time was allowed to drive, was on medication and still had the seizure. She was a fairly severe case, not nearly as severe as the Defendant in this case. If someone goes 5+ years without incident and it was never confirmed that she actually did have epilepsy, I don't think that is criminal negligence. As I said before, I'm fine with the verdict and Nancy Grace is a piece of crap.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Kevin

As an intern, I worked on a case where the mother hadn't had a seizure in a long time and was a licensed lifeguard (she was also a friend from high school). She was teaching her toddler to swim. Grandmother was watching. Grandmother went to answer the doorbell. When she came back, both our client and the child were face down in the water and not breathing. The child died, our client did not. It's actually a reported case:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_ca...=1&oi=scholarr

Our client, at the time was allowed to drive, was on medication and still had the seizure. She was a fairly severe case, not nearly as severe as the Defendant in this case. If someone goes 5+ years without incident and it was never confirmed that she actually did have epilepsy, I don't think that is criminal negligence. As I said before, I'm fine with the verdict and Nancy Grace is a piece of crap.

I'll agree about Nancy Grace being a piece of crap. The problem with epilepsy is that it is very poorly understood...example the case this weekend of the Commerce Sec. He may have a brain tumor or a stroke causing his since it is unusual to have a firs seizure at his age, but you do see this happen. I'm blanking on the name of the reported in DC a few years ago who had a seizure while driving and struck a pedestrian in a cros walk. Turned out he had a brain tumor and died shortly thereafter. Kevin's information changes the story drastically, but it is still so tragic.