Physician Reporting

Six states -- California, Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Pennsylvania -- currently have express mandatory physician reporting requirements. While the exact terms of these provisions vary, they generally state that any physician who diagnoses or treats a person with epilepsy must report that person's name, age, and address to a central state agency, usually the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Public Safety. The variations in the requirements generally involve the circumstances under which persons must be reported, such as all persons with epilepsy, or only those whose condition interferes with their ability to drive, whether the intended use of the information is specified, and the penalty, if any, for failing to report. Monetary fines are the most common penalty for failure to report; however, Pennsylvania's law also states that a physician could be found negligent for failing to report a driver who was later in an accident.