Barbour v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing

In Barbour v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 557 Pa. 189, 732 A.2d 1157 (1999), our Supreme Court considered the question of what evidence constitutes competent medical evidence, such as would support a conclusion that a licensee has a condition unrelated to the consumption of alcohol that makes the licensee's refusal to submit to chemical testing unknowing. In that case, a licensee sustained a serious head injury in an accident while he was driving. A medical expert, who also testified by deposition, likened the injury to a gunshot wound. The doctor testified to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the injury from the accident probably rendered the licensee unconscious and that the licensee suffered from amnesia after the accident. Consequently, the licensee would not have been able to comprehend questions posed to him immediately after the accident. The doctor acknowledged that, when he examined the licensee six to seven hours after the accident, licensee's ingestion of alcohol contributed to his cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, the doctor testified that, based upon his experience, a person suffering from the injury the licensee had sustained would not be able to provide a knowing refusal of chemical testing. The Supreme Court concluded that this Court had improperly increased the licensee's burden of proof by requiring a medical expert's opinion to be certain and without doubt. Instead, a medical expert need testify only within a reasonable degree of medical certainly that a medical condition or injuries made the licensee "incapable of rendering a conscious and knowing refusal." Barbour, 557 Pa. at 195, 732 A.2d at 1160-61.