Driving After Heart Surgery
This past Sunday, Frank Wimble died after crashing his car into the central divider on a UK motorway then colliding with two other cars. He’d undergone heart surgery this past December and his family believes he may have had a heart attack while driving.
Here’s the Cleveland Clinic’s recommendations on driving after heart surgery:
Your doctor will tell you when you may resume driving, after your sternum has healed and your reflexes have improved. This usually occurs about six to eight weeks after surgery, however, you may resume driving quicker if you had minimally invasive surgery. During this time, you may be a passenger as often as you like. If you take long drives during the first eight weeks after surgery, stop every hour and walk for 5 to 10 minutes.
It sounds as if Mr. Wimble was about two months post-surgery and should have been able to drive a car safely. But each person’s experience and recovery varies, so please be careful when you get behind the wheel again after major surgery.
Tags: heart surgery, surgery, heart, heart disease, diseases, illness, health, medicine
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POSTED IN: Hearty News, Hearty Tips
1 opinion for Driving After Heart Surgery
Adam Pick
Nov 12, 2007 at 1:27 am
hsien-hsien,
very cool article and blog. as a double heart valve replacement patient, I’m always surfing the web for interesting information relating to heart surgery. your blog definitely qualifies! :)
cheers,
adam
Heart Valve Surgery
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