Can Even a First Offense DUI Dramatically Impact Your Life?

Interviewer: Have you worked any cases where you’ve seen people experience a kind of a domino effect? Where because of a DUI, even if it’s the first time, there’s the loss of job, their life seriously starts to change after that. Have you seen that happen before?

Steve Tomeo: Yes, I’ve had clients that their life began to become increasingly more difficult for them. They suffered from depression, their drinking got out of control and they committed suicide. I’ve had some people that were unable to get a handle on their drinking, and after they settled their DUI, died as a result of their car going off the road and hitting a tree.

A First Offense DUI Can Be a Result of a Serious Drinking Problem

Many people that get arrested for DUI, this may be the tip of the iceberg for them, that they have during their lifetime been heavy drinkers or even functioning alcoholics, so it’s starting to catch up with them. They are drinking more and more. They are not just drinking and then going to sleep, sleeping it off, getting up to work and going to work and completing their shift and then coming home and drinking and then going to bed. They are starting to get out of work, drink, and it just keeps getting later and later and later and they are driving while they are drinking and they eventually get picked up.

Alcohol Abuse Treatment Can Be Costly for Individuals without Insurance

Some of these people have to go into hospital treatment programs for alcohol and/or drug dependency and that’s a tremendous cost. Some of those clinics charge $10,000 a week or more. If you’re fortunate enough and have the resources, that’s one thing. If not, and your insurance pays for it, that’s another thing. Oftentimes, your stay is limited, but if you go to counseling and you have to go to counseling to get control of your drinking, that could run you $100 to $150 a week or more for counseling. Then on top of that you might suffer from depression or other types, or anxiety, and have to take those types of medications to keep you in control of yourself. That could also be expensive. There’s the cost of co-payments on your medication. Some people that do not have insurance can’t afford to get the medication.