Alzheimer’s: doctors and associations plead for more flexibility on the possibility for patients to drive

In Saint-Lo (Manche), people revise the highway code in a room. They all have driving licenses. Only half of them suffer from a pathology that is not obvious: Alzheimer’s disease. Accompanied by a loved one, many of them have given up driving, like Odette, who came to test her memory with her daughter.

Some patients forced to stop driving

Others had no choice but to stop driving. They had their car keys confiscated as soon as the first signs of illness appeared. A cleaver encouraged by a decree published a year ago which prohibits driving for patients with neuro-evolutionary diseases. “What is going to happen is that most people who are going to have some problems are no longer going to want to go to a doctor or to get diagnose”says Evelyne Rabec, vice-president of France Alzheimer Manche. Doctors and patient associations plead for each situation to be studied on a case-by-case basis.