The wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs in New York’s Hudson Valley, police said. State police said Kennedy initially was pulled over Saturday for speeding on the Taconic State Parkway in Dutchess County. Kennedy told police she was headed to a yoga class, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported. The paper said that she allegedly had been driving 82 mph. WNBC reported that officers suspected that Kennedy was under the influence of prescription medication.

Source: msnbc.msn.com/id/38827866/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?GT1=43001

I commonly tell my surgical patients not to drive while taking Vicodin, a common post-operative pain medication. I have not yet had one of my patients charged with DUI, but the idea is to prevent it from happening if possible. If the police pull you over, you don’t want to be taking prescription pain medications although we don’t know what Ms Kennedy’s urine tox screen showed.

Best Regards,

John Di Saia MD