Medical Defenses to Breath Tests

Most Georgia DUI cases involve a breath test for alcohol, either using the hand-held breathalyzer at the side of the road, the larger breath test machine at the police station, or both. Challenging the results of the breathalyzer test can be difficult for any Savannah DUI lawyer, because the law assumes these tests are infallible with a minimum of evidence. In addition to the various legal defenses that can be used to thwart the breath test results in court, there are a number of medical reasons that can affect your test results as well.

As mentioned in our section discussing the Evidential Breath Testing Device, people with GERD, acid reflux or other gastroesophageal conditions can hold alcohol in their stomachs for a longer period of time than the rest of the population. When that individual burps, hiccups or otherwise expels that alcohol from their stomach, the residual alcohol can register as a false reading on the GA DUI breath test device.

These machines are designed with slope detectors to prevent the machine from testing when it registers residual mouth alcohol, but these instruments don’t always work. The breathalyzers are often not able to register the presence of mouth alcohol, and will give their (falsely high) reading anyway.

People with dental work such as crowns or dentures can also blow a too-high BAC (blood alcohol content) level on the breathalyzer test. Dental implants can trap alcohol molecules and then release them when you blow into the breath test machine. This is calculated into your BAC level, even though the alcohol that was measured was in your mouth, not your bloodstream, and thus could not possibly have affected your sobriety. The resulting incorrect reading could be the cause of your wrongful conviction.

If you have been arrested in a Georgia DUI case, you want the best possible defense. Any number of causes and conditions can cause a breath test or other blood-alcohol test to give a faulty reading. Call Savannah DUI lawyer Matt Hube today to receive a free consultation on how we can defend your rights!