A woman from Shannon, N.B., who has a serious respiratory disease says she has been wrongly charged with refusing to take a breathalyzer.

Connie McLean says she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease about three years ago.

“It just takes longer to do everything you have to do,” McLean says.

Medical records indicate the 64-year-old has the lung capacity of 46 per cent on a good day, roughly that of an 87-year-old.

McLean says she had a beer while preparing supper on March 2. About four hours later, McLean says she was in her vehicle when she was pulled over by the RCMP.

McLean says the officer asked if she had anything to drink that day.

“This was about 8:30 at night, so I told him I had a beer before supper,” she says. “Then he said, ‘Well let's just see if it's gone through.’”

McLean says the officer returned to her car with a breathalyzer.

“I tried to use it and I couldn't do it,” she says. “Probably about seven times altogether, and it kept on getting worse than it was good.”

McLean maintains she was given no other option but the breathalyzer.

“I told him I was trying, but he said, you're not trying and you're not trying,” she says.

McLeanwas charged with refusing to take a breathalyzer and had her vehicle impounded. She’s also lost her licence for three months.

“He took my driver's license right then and they got that for three months, that what is says on the paper here, three months."

Pete Lawson, McLean’s nephew, thinks she should have been given more options.

“You shouldn't assume that they're lying and at least give them the option of a blood test,” says Lawson.

Barabara Walls of the New Brunswick Lung Association is worried the rules are too black and white.

“You either fail to comply or you fail the test,” says Wallas. “In this case you can have a person who is more than willing to try but cannot breathe long enough into the machine.”

The lung association is calling for the wording to be changed so that if you can’t complete the test it isn’t considered a refusal.

McLean is planning to fight the charge when it goes to court in May.

The Department of Public Safety deferred any comment on the matter to New Brunswick RCMP, who said they have no comment while the matter is before the courts.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.