medical question

"Emily" wrote in message
. ..
I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that if the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Let him know in no uncertain terms that this 'diagnosis' will cause you
financial harm, and that a wrong diagnosis will cause HIM financial harm.




Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.

Stubby wrote:
tony roberts wrote:
Hi Emily

You only have to report it if you receive the diagnosis,
So stay the hell away - don't go back to get the diagnosis,
Just walk, go somewhere else and start over.

Does that make sense?

Yes. But you also have to know that any prescription that is written
for you is part of the record, also. If you are involved in an
accident, the whole record will be researched.



They do not send letters out to every physician in the state asking: "do you
know this person?". They will never know the name of her physician if she
doesn't tell them. This guy is NOT her AME.

As for prescriptions: they are a piece of paper, one out of tens of millions of
pieces of paper, up until the prescription gets filled. And even then, the FAA
doesn't send letters out to pharmacists either. Your picture doesn't end up on
the side of a milk carton to be served at the local medical society luncheons.

They don't know what they're not told.

Look, we're not talking about her being admitted to the hospital after a MI or
stroke. Her new internist blew her off. Now it's her turn.

Believe me, the FAA doesn't send out flowers or candy after they screw someone.
If she mentions this to her AME she'll get screwed. Of that I am fairly
certain.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message
...
Emily wrote:
This wasn't an AME.

Then what is the problem? Keep this crap to yourself unless you think
you've become unsafe to fly. I've said it befo I have two physicians:
my flight guy and my real doctor. The two have never met.

The problem is that the FAA's medical form asks you whether you have ever
been diagnosed with certain conditions (including depression), and it is
perjury to answer falsely. The form does not ask whether you consider the
diagnosis correct or whether you consider the diagnosing physician
competent.

--Gary

"Sylvain" wrote in message
t...
That was my understanding as well. the form 8500-9 asks specifically:
"have you ever in your life been diagnosed" then lists a number of
conditions; it doesn't ask whether you have ever suffered from said
conditions -- and chose to sit it out and wait to get better and/or
remained undiagnosed for whatever reasons -- but whether you have
been diagnosed -- wrongly or not.

It asks both. It asks if you've ever been diagnosed for the specified
conditions, and it asks if you've ever had the specified conditions.

--Gary

Stubby wrote:
tony roberts wrote:
Hi Emily

You only have to report it if you receive the diagnosis,
So stay the hell away - don't go back to get the diagnosis,
Just walk, go somewhere else and start over.

Does that make sense?

Yes. But you also have to know that any prescription that is written
for you is part of the record, also. If you are involved in an
accident, the whole record will be researched.

What prescription? Do you honestly think I'd let him write a
prescription for anti-depressants?

I'm getting the results of the lab work (which WILL show anemia),
skipping the followup appointment, and finding another doctor.

Montblack wrote:
("Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote)
Right up to the heart cath, all of the results were false positives. And
of course, I never had any symptoms. As a result, I have zero confidence
that the FAA will do the right thing in any particular instance.


http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2315693&page=1
Talk about false positives. This was weird. I caught about half of it one
night.


Good God... what a nightmare. I thought I had it bad.

Mine started with a mandatory modem EKG hookup to Oklahoma City while my AME ran
a strip on me while renewing my 1st class medical after turning 35. The FAA
docs said they saw something that would require me to get a stress test in order
to investigate it further. I had no money... I was flying cargo and was paid
about $13,000 a year at the time. I kind of ignored it until I got a letter in
the mail telling me they wouldn't be renewing my medical until I got the test
done... something that would cost me roughly two months salary.

At almost the same instant, we got called into a pilot's meeting at work and
were told the bank had taken our aircraft. Thanks... see ya later.

I signed up for nursing school instead of looking any further for flying jobs.
I had an EKG as part of the mandatory physical before being admitted into school
and it was normal. I sent a copy of it along with the conclusions to the FAA
but they didn't care. It was the stress test or nothing for me.

Fast forward 14 years and I'm being worked up for some abdominal surgery. The
anesthesiologist asks how long has it been since I'd had an EKG? "Quite a
while", I replied. So he ordered one and it said I'd probably had a septal wall
MI at some point in the past. "How odd", I thought, "you'd think I'd remember
having a heart attack". They sent me across the street for my long awaited
stress test (this time paid for by insurance). It said the same thing. They
sent me for a heart cath with possible stent placement.

At the end of the cath, the cardiologist bumps me and tells me my arteries are
completely clear... all the other stuff was apparently false positives. Damn.
I did find one new tidbit of information: I'm allergic to Betadine. I must
have scratched my fire engine red balls for a week.

One more bit of surgery (a new hip) and I was ready to face the world again. I
applied for a third class medical and got it on the spot (I arrived with a ton
of documentation). The FAA hasn't seen any reason to question my AME's finding
either... how about that! But I don't trust the *******s any more.

The good news: I make about four times as much money now and only work two days
a week. I'd still be scraping if I'd stayed in aviation the whole time. But
that still doesn't take the bad taste out of my mouth.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

Steve Foley wrote:
Let him know in no uncertain terms that this 'diagnosis' will cause you
financial harm, and that a wrong diagnosis will cause HIM financial harm.


I don't know that I'd draw attention to myself with this guy in any way, shape
or form. He may decide it's his "duty" to report her to the FAA if he knows
she's a pilot. Better to just drop off the radar.


Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus diagnosis.


There are plenty of idiots out there practicing to be sure. I work in a county
hospital and our doctors run the gamut from the seriously gifted to those I
wouldn't bring my parakeet to see. I occasionally work with one internist who
regularly asks me what *I* think is going on with the patient, not to include me
as a feel-good exercise, but because he truly has no idea.

OTOH, I work with a surgeon that I don't think there is another one on this
planet who is his peer... and this is a little county hospital. The bottom line
is that just because the name ends in MD doesn't mean he's necessarily correct.
Somebody has to bring up the rear of the class.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

Gary Drescher wrote:
The problem is that the FAA's medical form asks you whether you have ever
been diagnosed with certain conditions (including depression), and it is
perjury to answer falsely. The form does not ask whether you consider the
diagnosis correct or whether you consider the diagnosing physician
competent.


Perjury? I'm shocked anyone would suggest it. Personally, I always tell the
truth. Particularly to the federal government.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote)
Right up to the heart cath, all of the results were false positives. And
of course, I never had any symptoms. As a result, I have zero confidence
that the FAA will do the right thing in any particular instance.


http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2315693&page=1
Talk about false positives. This was weird. I caught about half of it one
night.


Montblack
"...I'm my own grandpa"

Wow,

I've heard of twins having different fathers, but yours is deffinately
weird.

Jay B

Emily wrote:
I've been running a 102 degree fever for the past two weeks and have
been so tired I can barely get to work. Finally made a doctor's
appointment (with a new doctor) today, but wasn't planning on getting in
the same day and had taken Tylenol for the fever...so no fever when I
showed up.

Long story short, he ordered some blood work, but told me he thinks that
I am depressed, since I have fatigue with no fever. He said that if the
blood work comes back normal, he's writing it up as depression.

Obviously he's an idiot, since 1) fatigue has so many other causes and
2) I don't have depression, never have. This is just a bogus diagnosis.

My concern is, if he writes this up in my medical records, do I have to
report it to the FAA? I'm really terrified of this.

Have you had a Lymes test? I don't what part of the country you are in
but you should. Just to rule it out.