Congress Examines Pilot Medical Record Fraud

CONGRESS EXAMINES PILOT MEDICAL RECORD FRAUD
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195656)
Does the FAA need to do more to ensure that pilots are not lying
about dangerous medical problems so they can keep their
certification? That's the question that was discussed in
Washington, D.C., on Wednesday at a hearing

(http://transportation.house.gov/hear...spx?NewsID=217)
before the House Subcommittee on Aviation. Investigators with the
DOT Office of Inspector General say they have discovered thousands
of "egregious cases" of airmen lying about debilitating medical
conditions on their applications for airman medical certificates.
The FAA said it would be too labor-intensive to cross-check and
verify every application, and the safety risk would not justify
the resources it would consume. The subcommittee said that
response was "unacceptable," and this week's hearing was part of
the continuing effort to address the issue. Among the witnesses
was AOPA President Phil Boyer, who proposed some simple steps
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...17medical.html)
to inform and educate pilots and cross-check a random sample of
applications.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195656

This begs the question, by what means did the DOT IG substantiate the
thousands of alleged "egregious cases" of airmen lying about
debilitating medical conditions on their applications for airman
medical certificates?

Larry Dighera wrote:
CONGRESS EXAMINES PILOT MEDICAL RECORD FRAUD
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195656)
Does the FAA need to do more to ensure that pilots are not lying
about dangerous medical problems so they can keep their
certification? That's the question that was discussed in
Washington, D.C., on Wednesday at a hearing

(http://transportation.house.gov/hear...spx?NewsID=217)
before the House Subcommittee on Aviation. Investigators with the
DOT Office of Inspector General say they have discovered thousands
of "egregious cases" of airmen lying about debilitating medical
conditions on their applications for airman medical certificates.
The FAA said it would be too labor-intensive to cross-check and
verify every application, and the safety risk would not justify
the resources it would consume. The subcommittee said that
response was "unacceptable," and this week's hearing was part of
the continuing effort to address the issue. Among the witnesses
was AOPA President Phil Boyer, who proposed some simple steps
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...17medical.html)
to inform and educate pilots and cross-check a random sample of
applications.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195656

This begs the question, by what means did the DOT IG substantiate the
thousands of alleged "egregious cases" of airmen lying about
debilitating medical conditions on their applications for airman
medical certificates?

Well they either lied to the FAA or they lied to the SSA.

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:49:15 -0500, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in
:

Larry Dighera wrote:
CONGRESS EXAMINES PILOT MEDICAL RECORD FRAUD
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195656)
Does the FAA need to do more to ensure that pilots are not lying
about dangerous medical problems so they can keep their
certification? That's the question that was discussed in
Washington, D.C., on Wednesday at a hearing

(http://transportation.house.gov/hear...spx?NewsID=217)
before the House Subcommittee on Aviation. Investigators with the
DOT Office of Inspector General say they have discovered thousands
of "egregious cases" of airmen lying about debilitating medical
conditions on their applications for airman medical certificates.
The FAA said it would be too labor-intensive to cross-check and
verify every application, and the safety risk would not justify
the resources it would consume. The subcommittee said that
response was "unacceptable," and this week's hearing was part of
the continuing effort to address the issue. Among the witnesses
was AOPA President Phil Boyer, who proposed some simple steps
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...17medical.html)
to inform and educate pilots and cross-check a random sample of
applications.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195656

This begs the question, by what means did the DOT IG substantiate the
thousands of alleged "egregious cases" of airmen lying about
debilitating medical conditions on their applications for airman
medical certificates?

Well they either lied to the FAA or they lied to the SSA.


Why do you feel that this alleged lying _only_ concerns airmen who are
receiving disability compensation from the government? Is it not
plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that might
document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their FAA medical
application?

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:43:24 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

Is it not
plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that might
document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their FAA medical
application?

We have some very strong medical privacy laws in effect, does the
government even have the power to snoop into someone's medical records for
any reason?

--
Dallas

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:11:05 GMT, Dallas
wrote in
:

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:43:24 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

Is it not
plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that might
document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their FAA medical
application?

We have some very strong medical privacy laws in effect, does the
government even have the power to snoop into someone's medical records for
any reason?

It would seem the Bush administration has the power, if not the
authority, to snoop at will. :-(

Larry Dighera wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:11:05 GMT, Dallas
wrote in
:

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:43:24 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

Is it not
plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that might
document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their FAA
medical application?

We have some very strong medical privacy laws in effect, does the
government even have the power to snoop into someone's medical
records for any reason?

It would seem the Bush administration has the power, if not the
authority, to snoop at will. :-(

Can you show a single cite showing that the Bush administration has obtained
private medical records without the proper warrants?

Larry Dighera wrote:
This begs the question, by what means did the DOT IG substantiate
the thousands of alleged "egregious cases" of airmen lying about
debilitating medical conditions on their applications for airman
medical certificates?

Well they either lied to the FAA or they lied to the SSA.


Why do you feel that this alleged lying _only_ concerns airmen who are
receiving disability compensation from the government? Is it not
plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that might
document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their FAA medical
application?

I don't, but the cross-referencing between the SSA and FAA databases is
where this came from.

Do you have reason to think that they are getting the data from somewhere
else?

"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
Larry Dighera wrote:
This begs the question, by what means did the DOT IG substantiate
the thousands of alleged "egregious cases" of airmen lying about
debilitating medical conditions on their applications for airman
medical certificates?

Well they either lied to the FAA or they lied to the SSA.


Why do you feel that this alleged lying _only_ concerns airmen who are
receiving disability compensation from the government? Is it not
plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that might
document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their FAA medical
application?

I don't, but the cross-referencing between the SSA and FAA databases is
where this came from.

Do you have reason to think that they are getting the data from somewhere
else?

Being that at least one airplane manufacturer (Diamond?) has a option to get
it configured for being flown by disabled pilots, is it not possible that a
person can be disabled "enough" to draw SS but not disabled enough to not
have a medical?

"Ken Finney" wrote

Being that at least one airplane manufacturer (Diamond?) has a option to
get it configured for being flown by disabled pilots, is it not possible
that a person can be disabled "enough" to draw SS but not disabled enough
to not have a medical?

I would certainly think so, but I don't have anything but gut feeling to
back that up.

At some point, I will probably be drawing disability, for a wretched back.
I could certainly see a point where I could not stand being at work for more
than a couple hours at a time (without laying down flat), but if I could
stand 2 hours at work, I could fly for two hours.
--
Jim in NC

Ken Finney wrote:
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
Larry Dighera wrote:
This begs the question, by what means did the DOT IG substantiate
the thousands of alleged "egregious cases" of airmen lying about
debilitating medical conditions on their applications for airman
medical certificates?

Well they either lied to the FAA or they lied to the SSA.


Why do you feel that this alleged lying _only_ concerns airmen who
are receiving disability compensation from the government? Is it
not plausible that there exists a medical reporting database that
might document medical conditions undisclosed by airmen on their
FAA medical application?

I don't, but the cross-referencing between the SSA and FAA databases
is where this came from.

Do you have reason to think that they are getting the data from
somewhere else?

Being that at least one airplane manufacturer (Diamond?) has a option
to get it configured for being flown by disabled pilots, is it not
possible that a person can be disabled "enough" to draw SS but not
disabled enough to not have a medical?


Sure, but the point is that they lied to either the FAA or the SSA because
the FAA database did not list the problems they were getting benefits for
from the SSA.