Video of Vandalism at vacant Catholic grade school at St. Frances Cabrini in Fairless  Hills, Pa

Doctors can put brakes on driver's license

Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012

The PennDOT form letter left Karen Moss confused. It stated that her driver’s license would be suspended because a doctor had declared her medically unfit to safely drive a car.

But when Moss, 67, a retired registered nurse, contacted her doctors for an explanation, they were just as confused, she said. Moss had no medical conditions they knew of that would impair her ability to drive, she said.

So she took action before the license suspension went into effect. She re-took the road test and provided more medical proof. PennDOT eventually deemed her medically fit to get behind the wheel.

“The trauma of not being able to defend myself and of having to retake the driving test was horrible,” Moss said. “I wondered at the time if there was a deranged person out there who was filing these reports for some warped reason.”

Three years later, the Perkasie resident still doesn’t know who filed the report or why. She never will.

In Pennsylvania, that information is legally protected. So are the report contents, including the medical condition cited as interfering with driving ability. That is, unless the driver files a formal appeal with the courts.

“You have no idea who your accuser is. You can’t do that in a court of law,” Moss said. “The worst is I can’t think why a doctor would think there was something wrong with me and they wouldn’t tell me.”

Moss isn’t alone in her criticism of Pennsylvania’s medical reporting system.

Other critics say it discourages patients from being candid with health care workers. They call the reporting requirement unconstitutional and overly broad, leaving it open to misinterpretation. They also say the system lacks adequate checks and balances by relying on the subjective opinion of someone who may have treated a person only once.

And doctors aren’t the only ones PennDOT listens to when it comes to medical reporting. Police officers also can recommend a special medical/driver examination if they suspect a driver has medical issues that compromise driving ability. Those reports are also legally protected.

The state transportation agency maintains that medical reporting is the most effective way to keep dangerous drivers off the road. PennDOT says research shows an extremely high rate of non-compliance in states with “self reporting” requirements for impaired drivers.

“They’re providing their professional opinion to us,” said Richard Kirkpatrick, PennDOT’s division manager for driver safety. “We’re relying on the judgments of the professionals to tell us what the condition of these people are.”

Pennsylvania is one of nine states that mandate health care providers report people with medical conditions or other impairments that could impact their driving ability. But the state is one of only four that include medical conditions other than those involving loss of consciousness or seizures.

Among the conditions that PennDOT says could interfere with driving ability: unstable diabetes, heart conditions, arthritis, chronic depression, substance addiction and “excessive aggressiveness.”

Each year, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation receives about 22,000 new medical reports from health care providers; about half involve medical impairments significant enough to merit recalling a license, PennDOT safety administration spokeswoman Jan McKnight said. About half of the license recalls involve people under age 65.

The rest of the reports result in no further action, in license suspension or in restrictions, such as no night driving. In 2010, PennDOT issued about 7,000 restrictions on individual’s driving records and about 3,000 suspensions for non-compliance with requests for medical information, McKnight said.

CONFIDENTIALLY SPEAKING

PennDOT declined to provide copies of its special medical reporting forms covering 10 medical conditions that it believes can impair driving.

The agency also lets health care professionals use a general medical reporting form (called a DL-13) that lists 15 disorders and disabilities the agency believes impact driving ability. It allows doctors to include “other” conditions not listed.

The DL-13 form asks the health care professional whether the individual should lose driving privileges immediately or if PennDOT should conduct an investigation into “driving competency.” But PennDOT doesn’t require doctors to submit documentation nor does it routinely verify the information in the reports.

Patients diagnosed with seizure disorders can qualify for a medical waiver under certain circumstances, such as if the seizure is the result of a doctor-supervised medication withdrawal, dehydration or low sodium levels.

A seizure typically results in an automatic six-month driving suspension before a driver can seek reinstatement.

In 2010, 252 people who had their licenses revoked appealed PennDOT’s actions. At least 183 appeals were filed in the first 10 months of last year, McKnight said. The agency said it couldn’t provide information about how many appeals were reversed.

If a formal appeal is filed, the state is required to disclose the name of the health care provider who filed it, as well as the medical report, Falls defense attorney Ron Elgart said and PennDOT confirmed.

A 2000 study in the Society of General Internal Medicine journal found that the prospect of private health information being shared with a third party could result in a patient avoiding medical treatment.

The study also pointed out that most health conditions that impair driving ability do so gradually over time, meaning that the person doesn’t pose an immediate safety risk for other drivers.

PennDOT maintains that medical reporting doesn’t violate doctor-patient confidentiality, since doctors are required to report to police things like gunshot wounds, child abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.

The transportation agency also cites the American Medical Association’s ethics statement that a doctor may not reveal patient confidences or deficiencies he may observe, unless required by law or it is necessary to protect the public welfare.

But the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society joined in a “friend of the court” brief supporting a 2009 federal civil suit filed by a Bethlehem psychiatrist, Dr. David Behar, against PennDOT and the state secretary of transportation.

In his suit, Behar claims the mandatory medical reporting requirement violates federal law mandating confidentiality for drug and alcohol abuse patients and that the protocol for assessing drivers based solely on a submitted medical report without further investigation is unconstitutional.

Behar’s attorney, Alan Gold of Gold and Ferrante in Jenkintown, said his client’s main concern is that patients with chronic conditions would avoid medical treatment if they learned they could lose their driving privileges.

Gold maintains medical reporting requirements punish drivers for honesty, but not medical professionals who fail to report someone who fits its criteria. PennDOT confirmed that it wasn’t aware of any health care provider being penalized for failing to file a medical report or who file meritless reports.

“There are people who live in absolute fear to talk to their doctor,” Gold added. “The law is clear. They will not bring an action against a doctor (for not reporting), but they still say, ‘I’ve got to report it.’”

So far, the federal court has sided with PennDOT by dismissing the part of Behar’s suit that argues mandatory medical reporting is unconstitutional, Gold said.

But the court has yet to rule on the second part of the suit pertaining to the privacy protection of individuals in certain types of “federally funded” drug and alcohol treatment programs.

‘A STICKY WICKET’

St. Mary Medical Center cardiologist Dr. George Heyrich has filed medical reports with PennDOT, typically for patients who experience loss of consciousness or a medical condition where loss of consciousness can occur. He said he tells patients before filing the report.

For about half the patients, no obvious medical cause is found for a sudden loss of consciousness, Heyrich said. Some medical conditions that can lead to blackouts can be treated with medication or surgery, but may still require a driving “holiday period,” he added.

The patients who doctors tend to focus on for medical reporting are people at risk for recurrent blackouts, not a single one, Heyrich added.

Over his 20-year career, Dr. Joseph Kepko said he filed about a dozen medical reports with PennDOT and the agency never contacted him to verify the information or his signature.

Kepko, who retired from his Bensalem family practice last year, said he filed a medical report with PennDOT without first consulting the patient only once; in that case, the patient was in her 90s and her adult children made the request.

When PennDOT notified the woman she had to retake the road test to keep her license, she confronted Kepko, who confessed he turned her in.

“I asked her, could you live with yourself if you hit a school bus filled with children?” he added.

The woman agreed that she couldn’t, he said. She took the retest, failed, and lost her license.

Kepko was surprised that patients don’t have immediate access to the medical reports since patients are entitled to copies of their regular medical records.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “They should have access.”

Dr. Neil Skolnik, associate director of Abington Memorial’s family medicine residency program, said the law is an opportunity for doctors and patients to discuss the sensitive topic of when to put away the car keys.

Skolnik, who has a family practice in Jenkintown, said he’s never had a patient request that he reverse another doctor’s medical report with PennDOT. He also doesn’t see the medical reporting requirement as hurting doctor-patient relationships.

“The alternative is not having the ability for the state to take licensure away is everyone drives regardless of ability or safety,” he said. “It doesn’t seem there is a confidentiality issue as long as the issue is handled responsibility and clearly.”

Abington Memorial neurologist Dr. Lee Harris, though, would like to see the mandatory medical reporting eliminated, saying it puts patients on the defensive.

“If a patient says that he had a seizure, I have to tell him that he can’t drive for six months,” he said. “I don’t want to promote dishonesty.”

Harris recalled how a patient with a seizure disorder threatened to sue him after he told her he was filing a medical report with PennDOT. But before PennDOT revoked her license, the patient had a seizure behind the wheel, which resulted in a car accident that killed another driver.

Harris also believes confusion exists over what is considered a reportable condition; for example, a patient with heart disease who faints is reportable, but an otherwise healthy person who faints after hearing bad news isn’t, he said.

“I think some doctors don’t understand the law,” he added.

Harris says he has reviewed medical records for patients who’ve challenge a suspension or revocation involving a seizure and found cases where doctors reported a single seizure as the reason a person should not drive. But a single seizure is not considered a seizure disorder without a brain wave test confirmation. Neurologists don’t recommend treatment for people who experience a standalone seizure.

Seizures can happen for many reasons and often the cause of a single seizure cannot be identified, Harris added. More than half of patients who experience a single seizure have normal follow-up testing.

“It’s just that — a fluke — but it’s still required they have to be reported to PennDOT,” he said. “This gets into a sticky wicket.”

One that Langhorne resident Dorothy DeBlasio finds herself stuck in. The 70-year-old said her six-month license suspension has turned into a tangle of red tape she is still trying to unravel.

A year ago this month, DeBlasio’s license was suspended after she experienced two seizures following a medication change. The new medication was the same one she was prescribed four years before and had a seizure. After doctors changed the drug the first time, she had no more seizures — until the medication was switched back.

Doctors changed her medication again and she has been seizure-free since, she said. Her neurologist and ophthalmologist both sent PennDOT the required paperwork declaring her medically fit to drive, she said.

But, first, PennDOT wants her to retake the road test. So far she has failed it twice. She plans to try a third time next month.

“It’s not six months, it’s a year,” she said. “It’s my independence they’re taking away.”

'We were the only smoke detectors that night,' fire victim said

Posted: Sunday, July 22, 2012

As the fire quickly spread in Building 12 at the Windsor at Harper’s Crossing apartment complex last Sunday night, third-floor resident Darrel Nagle pulled three different fire alarms. None worked.

Fourteen-year-old Paola Rios also pulled fire alarms in the same building, but nothing happened. Neighbors pulled alarms in the nearby buildings but they didn’t work either, she said.

So residents said they warned neighbors the old-fashioned way — banging on doors and yelling for people to get out.

“We were the only smoke detectors that night,” Nagle said. 

Middletown’s fire marshal said the lightning strike that sparked a four-alarm fire that injured seven firefighters and heavily damaged Building 12 also destroyed or damaged the fire alarm warning systems in all the residential buildings in the 377-unit luxury complex off Big Oak Road.

Fire Marshal James McGuire and a Windsor corporate representative confirmed that all the fire alarm systems were fully functional again by Saturday.

Before they were restored, the complex had been relying on what McGuire described as “human smoke detectors” — specially trained, roving security responsible for monitoring the buildings on a 24-hour basis solely to protect against fires.

The measure, called a fire watch, is allowed under the International Fire Code when a building alarm system is not property working, McGuire said.

On Thursday, the special security guards, wearing black T-shirts and using marked patrol cars, were seen throughout the complex. Windsor Management, the company that owns the complex, also posted notices on apartment building entrances and bulletin boards telling residents that a “fire watch” is in effect until further notice.

ALARMING SITUATION

A post-fire inspection found that the circuit panels in eight residential buildings where the fire alarm systems were destroyed showed clear indications of a lightning-related electric surge, McGuire said.

In six residential buildings, McGuire found the alarm systems were damaged — they did not automatically dial 911 as required — but the warning horns and strobe lights worked when activated. Residents in those buildings were sent notices Wednesday telling them in the event of fire to call 911 directly for the immediate future.

Harper’s Woods has no history of fire code violations or electrical problems in its annual fire safety inspections, McGuire said. Middletown conducted its scheduled inspection at the complex 10 days before the fire and all the alarm systems were functioning at that time, McGuire said last week. No outstanding problems were listed in the annual safety report that the complex’s alarm contractor is required to file with the township.

The lone problem was in Building 12, which showed a “trouble alarm” during the inspection prior to the fire, and the complex was sent a notice to repair it, McGuire said. Fire inspectors found the same “trouble alert” problem in the 2011 inspection, but it was fixed, McGuire said.

Robert Farrington, senior vice president of the Boston-based General Investment & Development Companies, the apartment complex’s owner, confirmed that management received a notice July 9 to fix a defective fire panel red light, but the repairs had not been made at the time of the fire.

Typically, business owners have 30 days to fix a problem, which is the timetable that most municipalities use, McGuire said. After 15 days, McGuire said his office calls businesses to see where they are in the repair process.

But McGuire last week said that based on his post-fire investigation, he believes the lightning strike --– not the trouble alarm — is the reason the Building 12 alarm did not activate. He added that a trouble alarm signal can be triggered for minor reasons, such as wet wiring or a dead battery, and typically there are other indications when a fire alarm is dead.

“Without a doubt the fire alarm systems that are not working now are because of the lightning strike,” McGuire added.

‘HARD TO BELIEVE’

In his career, McGuire said he has seen residential blocks of 12 separate homes experience electrical outages and surges following a lightning strike.

Indirect damage from a lightning strike can happen when the current passes through or near it, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The electric current might enter a building and transfer through wires or plumbing and damage everything in its path.

Similarly, in more densely developed areas, lightning might strike a pole or tree and the current then travels to nearby houses and other structures and enters them through wiring or plumbing, according to NOAA.

While electrical systems must be properly grounded, there is no requirement that buildings such as the ones at Harper’s Crossing have some kind of grounding system to guard against fires caused by lightning strikes, McGuire said.

On Friday, Farrington, the Windsor rep, said that 16 of the 29 tenants in Building 12 — which has been deemed uninhabitable — have relocated to other apartments on the complex.

Rachel Rios — Paola’s mother — is staying with a neighbor in another building at the complex. While moving items out of her second-floor apartment recently, she said the non-working fire alarms concern her.

Several residents had no complaints about faulty fire alarms before Sunday, and some didn’t even know the alarms were equipped to notify 911.

But most found it difficult to believe that a lightning strike to one building could damage fire alarm systems in other, separate buildings.

“That’s a bunch of crap,” said Tess Brown, whose second-floor apartment was heavily damaged in the fire. “I find that hard to believe.”

Brown, who is hoping to move into another three-bedroom apartment in the complex, expressed uneasiness about the use of so-called human smoke-detectors until the fire alarm system is functional again.

“If they are sitting in a car watching the building, how will they know if there is a fire until it’s too late?”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181;

email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com;

Twitter: @jociavaglia

Most charges withdrawn against man accused of filming girlfriend in sex acts

Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2012 

Most charges were dropped against a 21-year-old Bethlehem man accused of filming his underage girlfriend in sex acts starting when she was 16.

Stephen Mann still faces a child pornography charge, a third-degree felony that carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence. His defense attorney, David Knight, though, doesn’t expect his client will serve jail time.

“These are two nice people that I think will put this behind them,” he said.

Mann was initially charged with six crimes, including photographing/filming a sex act involving a child and unlawful sexual contact with a minor, both second-degree felonies that carry a maximum 10-year jail sentence, if convicted.

At his preliminary hearing Wednesday, before Bensalem District Judge Joseph Falcone, Mann waived the remaining child pornography charge to Bucks County Court. He remains free on $2,500 unsecured bail, meaning he has to post the money only if he fails to appear in court.

The charges stemmed from an unrelated incident at a Bensalem motel in March, when Mann’s now 17-year-old girlfriend reported to police that she was raped by another man, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The teen told police that her attacker’s contact information was stored in her phone. They found it in the motel room where she said the assault took place. Now Eric Libier, 23, of Quakertown, is charged with five felonies in connection with the alleged assault, including sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

But a forensic search of the phone revealed a second crime, police said.

The phone had six videos of the same girl in a sex act with an adult male, whom police later identified as Mann.

The videos had been created in October 2011, police said, and the girl’s phone also had six still images that depicted the girl in a sex act, according to the affidavit.

Mann told police that he had been dating the girl since she was 15 years old and he was 19, according to the affidavit. Mann also told them that he was the male in the videos, according to court documents.

Mann told police that his girlfriend was 16 when he took the videos and said the two had exchanged other sexually explicit videos, court records show. The girl also confirmed that information, police said.

Knight agreed the case was unusual and could serve as a cautionary tale for anyone under age 18 who owns a cellphone with photo capabilities.

“It is a crime,” he said. “A lot of people are just unaware of it.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181;

email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com;

Twitter: @jociavaglia

Warrington men charged with crashing parties, stealing gift money

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2012 5:00 am

A pair of Warrington 20-year-olds were the ultimate party crashers, police say.

John Connor Adair and Perry Longo Jr. allegedly stole more than $9,500 in cash and checks at three events at two Northampton country clubs between April and June.

Police say that Longo would wait in a getaway car while Adair would walk into parties and steal — or attempt to steal — containers in which guests placed envelopes containing cash and checks for newlyweds or guests of honor, police said.

To blend in, Adair would wear a dress shirt, tie and jacket, police said. He’d even mingle with guests. 

At a bat mitzvah, Adair was seen eating danish at the snack table set up for the young guests, Northampton Detective George Kelly said.

Two of the incidents occurred at Spring Mill Manor on Jacksonville Road — on April 28, when $650 was taken, and on May 19, when $1,850 in checks and $1,040 in cash were taken from a “bird cage” set up at a wedding reception.

The men allegedly committed another theft at the Northampton Valley Country Club on Newtown-Richboro Road June 1, during which more than $6,000 in cash and checks in a wedding gift box were stolen.

A wedding coordinator foiled another attempted theft there when she recognized Adair from video surveillance she provided police a week earlier after the first theft, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The coordinator followed Adair to the parking lot, where he left in a black Honda Civic, police said.

The Doylestown Police Department is also investigating similar incidents reported there, Northampton police said.

Adair and Longo were arraigned Wednesday before Northampton District Judge William Benz on 14 counts of theft, conspiracy to commit theft, receiving stolen property, attempted theft and related crimes. The charges are all third-degree felonies that each carry a maximum of seven years in jail.

Both men were released on $50,000 unsecured bail apiece, meaning they have to post the money only if they fail to appear in court.

Neither Longo nor Adair has a prior criminal record in Bucks County, according to online criminal records.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181;

email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com;

Twitter: @jociavaglia

Cops: Philly man arrested twice after he escapes, then shoplifts clothes

Posted: Monday August 6, 2012

James Fagan

A Philadelphia man arrested Saturday morning for stealing change jars was arrested again hours later after he allegedly slipped out of Bensalem police headquarters and then shoplifted clothing.

Bensalem police first encountered James Fagan, 29, shortly after the manager of a convenience store in the 2200 block of Lincoln Highway reported someone stole three charity boxes from a front cash register shortly after 8:30 a.m.

Store surveillance video revealed a man — later identified as Fagan — removing the boxes containing an undisclosed amount of money and placing them in a plastic shopping bag, according to a probable cause affidavit. An accomplice, identified as Amber Fry, 29, also of Philadelphia, helped Fagan distract the cashier, according to the affidavit.

Fagan was dressed in the same clothes he wore in the video surveillance when police later found him and Fry at an Old Lincoln Highway motel, the affidavit said. Police also found a “large amount of change” in his motel room, according to the affidavit.

He asked the detective if he was arrested for stealing the change at the convenience store, according to the affidavit.

From there, though, Fagan’s bad day turned worse.

While detectives interviewed him at police headquarters for the alleged charity box thefts, they learned Fagan had two outstanding warrants, one for a probation violation from a burglary conviction. Fagan was told he was under arrest and not free to leave, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

But that’s exactly what he did, police said.

After talking with police, Fagan was left alone in the interview room to write a statement regarding the convenience store theft.

A short time later, a detective returned to find the room empty. A check of police headquarters turned up no sign of Fagan, who was barefoot, according to police.

Police searched the surrounding area and received information that a man matching Fagan’s description may have entered the Kohl’s department store on Knights Road, less than a mile from police headquarters.

Further police investigation found that Fagan allegedly took clothing from a home, then entered Ross and Kohl’s, where he allegedly stole $200 worth of merchandise.

When police checked the Kohl’s bathroom, they found Fagan wearing new clothes and shoes. He was also clean shaven, the affidavit said.

Fagan was arraigned Saturday on charges in connection with the charity box thefts including receiving stolen property, theft and conspiracy — first-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum five-year prison sentence.

He was also charged with escape — a third-degree felony that carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence — as well as two more first-degree misdemeanor theft and receiving stolen property charges. He was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of $50,000/10 percent bail.

His accomplice, Fry, was also charged with two counts of receiving stolen property, theft, and conspiracy in connection with the charity box theft. She also was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of $15,000/10 percent bail.