In another case of a denied medical expense deduction, a woman tried to apply the old maxim “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” by claiming that her pepper spray was a medical expense. Her argument was that an attack would kill her due to her weakened heart. The issue with this one is not that she didn’t suffer from a medical condition, it is that there isn’t much of a connection between pepper spray and treatment of a heart condition. The pepper spray also can’t be considered to prevent disease because it didn’t actually prevent her weak heart condition. There just wasn’t enough of a connection between the pepper spray and her condition to justify the deduction.
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