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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
        
(Message started by: SoCal on Dec 8^th, 2007, 12:29am)

Title: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by SoCal on Dec 8^th, 2007, 12:29am

This from the Madison, WI paper this week. A friend pointed it out because the police officer involved in an accident suffers from CH. According to the article, he was one of the first to have an electrode implant to treat CH.

The detective's name is Jeffery Hughes. Was he a member of this board?

--------------------------------

Crash that injured cop is being probed

By Karen Rivedal
608-252-6106
December 6, 2007

At the request of Madison police, the Dane County Sheriff 's Office has begun a criminal investigation related to the one-car crash that seriously injured a Madison detective on Nov. 20 -- even as the State Patrol trooper who investigated the crash says he saw no evidence of anything criminal.

"Not even in my wildest dreams am I looking at any type of crash investigation that 's criminal in nature, " Trooper Tim Redman said Thursday. "I didn 't see anything that would lead me down that path. "

Police have said Central District Detective Jeffery Hughes, 39, of Milton, was off-duty when he drove his 1999 Acura off Interstate 39-90 near Edgerton about 2:10 p.m., hitting a guardrail and rolling the car several times. He was thrown from the car and remained in critical condition Thursday at UW Hospital.

Madison police on Thursday would not explain why the criminal investigation was launched or what it will seek to find out. A three-sentence statement issued by the department says only that it will probe the "circumstances surrounding the crash. "

Based on evidence at the scene of the crash, Redman said he was "90 percent sure " Hughes fell asleep at the wheel, had some sort of medical attack or was briefly distracted by something when his car drifted onto the left shoulder and crashed.

"We 've ruled out alcohol use, we 've ruled out hit-and-run from another vehicle, we 've ruled out a deer jumping in front of him or any mechanical malfunction, " Redman said, noting excessive speed also was not a factor.

Hughes joined the Madison force in 2001. He was headed toward Milton at the time of the crash, but police would not confirm Thursday whether he had just finished a work shift that day.

Hughes will get a ticket for failure to wear a seat belt, Redman said, but decisions about any further citations and a final probable cause for the crash will wait until he is able to talk to Hughes. So far, Hughes has been unable to be interviewed, Redman said.

"It 's been over two weeks that he 's been laid up in critical condition, " Redman said Thursday. "That 's a long time to be out of it. He 's in bad shape. "

Redman said Hughes ' crash was "getting a lot of scrutiny " because Hughes was known to suffer from a painful condition known as "cluster headaches. "

Frequent headaches caused him to miss 40 percent of his scheduled work days in 2005, Hughes told the State Journal in June, but he was able to resume a regular schedule in early 2006 after undergoing a surgical procedure that involved the placement of an electrode in his brain.

Redman said he would need a medical release from Hughes to ask his doctors whether the headaches were a factor in the crash. Even then, Redman said, the doctors might not be able to determine if he had an attack, and Hughes himself may not be able to remember it.

Title: Re: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by Melissa on Dec 8^th, 2007, 7:24am

If you look on the General board, on page 2 or 3, there was a thread about it.

BTW, there was nothing I saw in the news that said anything about the cause being a "medical attack". Do you have a link for the story you posted?

Title: Re: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by DennisM1045 on Dec 8^th, 2007, 8:57am

So he wasn't drinking or speeding. Now they want to prosecute him because he MAY have had a headache? Damn, I know you should always pull over to deal with CH. I know too that I have driven with one when I had no aborts in the car with me (a mistake I'll never repeat). But for crying out loud, the man was alone and the only one who got hurt was him. I'm not saying CH caused the accident - hell not even his doctors can say that if he didn't tell them himself. But how that would turn this into a criminal matter is beyond me. Don't these people have something better to do?

-Dennis-

Title: Re: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by Kevin_M on Dec 8^th, 2007, 10:45am

on 12/08/07 at 00:29:39, SoCal wrote:

Was he a member of this board?

He had signed the guest book and registered here many years ago.

Quote:

At the request of Madison police, the Dane County Sheriff 's Office has begun a criminal investigation

A three-sentence statement issued by the department says only that it will probe the "circumstances surrounding the crash. "

His employer requested the investigation to determine circumstances, but to open an outside investigation, I'm not sure what else a sheriff's department could call it, what other types of investigations would be optional, not familiar with these procedures.

What seems curious is that all this has been determined...

Quote:

Based on evidence at the scene of the crash, Redman said he was "90 percent sure " Hughes fell asleep at the wheel, had some sort of medical attack or was briefly distracted by something when his car drifted onto the left shoulder and crashed.

"We 've ruled out alcohol use, we 've ruled out hit-and-run from another vehicle, we 've ruled out a deer jumping in front of him or any mechanical malfunction, " Redman said, noting excessive speed also was not a factor.

but since Nov. 20th, they have yet to confirm, or won't mention for some reason if he worked that day. I wonder if there are insurance reasons involved.

Quote:

but police would not confirm Thursday whether he had just finished a work shift that day.

Quote:

"It 's been over two weeks that he 's been laid up in critical condition, " Redman said Thursday. "That 's a long time to be out of it. He 's in bad shape. "

Just hoping he can recover.

Title: Re: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by rolo65 on Dec 8^th, 2007, 12:11pm

I wonder if it’s possible that the implant may have malfunctioned. The lawyers will defiantly be chasing his ambulance so to say. They are probably not releasing any info for hope of a back door settlement, and may never cut loose with the truth.

Rolo..

Title: Re: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by SoCal on Dec 8^th, 2007, 12:43pm

Quote:

The link to the story I posted is at:
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2007/11/22/0711210355.php

Another article from June focused on his CH and the Deep Brain Stimulation surgery he underwent at Mayo is at:
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2007/06/17/0706180214.php

Title: Re: Jeffery Hughes-Accident possibly caused by CH
Post by nani on Dec 8^th, 2007, 1:03pm

Here's something I found disturbing in the DBS article:

During the worst of it, in 2005, Hughes suffered between 55 and 60 such attacks a month, each lasting three to seven hours, disrupting his work and family life.

I hope he gets well soon, and I hope his DBS didn't fail... but I have to wonder if all he had was CH.