Breath testing is broken. Because of some major flaws in how the machines function, many people falsely get charged with DUI. One group of people at higher risk for false positives is Diabetics.

Breath testing indirectly measures the amount of alcohol in a breath sample. The machine measures ethanol based on its wavelength. Unfortunately, many other substances with similar chemical properties exhibit very similar wavelengths and thus the machine counts them as ethanol when they are clearly not.

An example of this is when a diabetic has very low blood sugar, the body produces a byproduct called isopropanol that has a similar structure to ethanol. If someone going through that stage were to blow into a breath machine, it would get counted as ethanol.

What’s worse is that a person with low blood sugar may look groggy, have slow responses and may mistakenly “look drunk”.

If you are a diabetic who was falsely charged with a DUI, we want to talk to you. At The McShane Firm, we are The Science Attorneys. No law firm can match our experience and knowledge in DUI breath testing. We have handled similar cases for diabetics in the past and we can argue these cases based on science.

Justin McShane

PA DUI attorney Justin J. McShane is the President/CEO of The McShane Firm, LLC - Pennsylvania's top criminal law and DUI law firm. He is the highest rated DUI attorney in PA as rated by Avvo.com. Justin McShane is a double Board certified attorney. He is the first and so far the only Pennsylvania attorney to achieve American Bar Association recognized board certification in DUI defense from the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. He is also a Board Certified Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Approved Agency.