Nobody disputes that 85-year-old Lorraine Sullivan steered her Toyota Corolla into oncoming traffic, causing a crash that killed her longtime boyfriend, who was in the front passenger seat.

But she is not the one in a Santa Ana courtroom this week facing a wrongful death lawsuit for the 2010 accident.

Her doctor is.

Dr. Arthur Daigneault, who practices near the retirement community of Laguna Woods Village and caters to the elderly, is being sued by the family of William Powers. The internist had been treating Sullivan for dementia in the two years before the crash. At issue is whether he should have initiated a process to take away her driver’s license and whether by not doing so he bears some responsibility for the death.

The case casts a spotlight on a problem that will grow more common as the population ages and doctors see more dementia and other conditions related to old age, such as slowed reflexes, lack of alertness and diseases that can trigger lapses of consciousness. At what point do doctors have a responsibility to notify authorities that their patients may pose a threat on the road?

By 2030, the number of U.S. drivers older than 65 is expected to reach 57 million, nearly double the number in 2007. According to a federal report that year, drivers 75 and older have the highest chances among all age groups of being involved in a fatal crash, based on miles driven.

One of the most dramatic reminders of those risks came in 2003, when an 86-year-old man drove his Buick through the Santa Monica Farmers Market, killing 10 people and injuring more than 60. Last week, a 100-year-old man backed into a crowd in front of a south Los Angeles elementary school and injured two adults and 12 children.

During National Transportation Safety Board hearings on the issue of aging drivers in 2010, Dr. Carl Soderstrom of the Medical Advisory Board of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration testified that doctors in many states “have no idea at all whether they have any obligation about reporting or talking to the DMV.”

Some advocates for the elderly are grappling with how to guide doctors, patients and their families, because in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and other diseases, a person may seem perfectly capable of driving safely or at least as safely as many younger people on the road.

“This underscores the need for more discussion about this subject,” said Jean Dickinson, spokeswoman for the Alzheimer’s Assn. in Los Angeles, which has recently launched a “dementia and driving” resource center on its website.

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Doctor sued over fatal crash by patient with dementia

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