What to do post ER visit?

[bbchien]

It's an appeal to authority, so no. And I don't even know you, so why would it? It's not necessary for you to disclose any medical records here. Are you asserting that you have direct knowledge of cases where the FAA has taken action based on randomly searching insurance records and finding ICD codes unrelated to an ultimate diagnosis? What were the general circumstances? Answering that wouldn't reveal anyone's medical records. And if certificate action was taken, that should be public.



Seems to be one of the disability cases mentioned earlier.

First of 4 Pilots indicted for lying on Medical is Sentenced.

GREGORY JAMES CHRISMAN was sentenced 09/15/2020 to two years probation, lost his pilot certificates and it's unemployed. Chrisman previously worked as a commercial pilot, and this prosecution arises from false statements that Chrisman made on medical certifications submitted to the Federal...

www.pilotsofamerica.com

Like I said, believe what you wish.
It's a thing.

 

[Tokirbymd]

We've all seen the cases from years ago of failure to disclose government disability. That's entirely different. I'm asking about the FAA actually randomly searching airmen's medical records, and/or the FAA punishing an airman for not disclosing ICD codes that don't reflect an ultimate diagnosis.

It's often stated here that airmen should over disclose things that aren't legally required because "the FAA can find it." I'm just looking for evidence that's actually a thing.

I am a physician but not an AME so I don't know of specific cases. I "hope" the FAA is not randomly combing databases to identify mismatched codes. However imagine you are in an accident and get admitted to the hospital for a few days while they work up all your pains injuries etc. Maybe you have some chest pain from the seatbelt, some hematuria from a full bladder, a minor sprain and possible concussion from the airbag. No major injuries but you get trauma alerted, they scan everything when you show up and probably do some serial EKG, cardiac enzymes, maybe a urology consult and possibly this leads to a diagnostic cystoscopy. At the end of a few days of observation they declare you fine, just bumps and bruises. But when you report this hospitalization to your AME, he may want a discharge summary or some documentation that you are truly fine. And with EMR proliferation, guess what shows on the paperwork? Every diagnosis code you've ever had attached to your name.

 

[Lindberg]

At the end of a few days of observation they declare you fine, just bumps and bruises. But when you report this hospitalization to your AME, he may want a discharge summary or some documentation that you are truly fine. And with EMR proliferation, guess what shows on the paperwork? Every diagnosis code you've ever had attached to your name.

My AME trusts me to make an accurate disclosure, understands all of the above, and I trust him to act accordingly. Should he instead make me jump through all the hoops the FAA would require if I actually had the things I might have, but didn't have, wrong with me? That would be unreasonable. I guess some AME do require that from their applicants, but not all do, and I've seen no evidence the FAA does.

 

[Mongoose Aviator]

At the end of a few days of observation they declare you fine, just bumps and bruises. But when you report this hospitalization to your AME, he may want a discharge summary or some documentation that you are truly fine. And with EMR proliferation, guess what shows on the paperwork? Every diagnosis code you've ever had attached to your name.

I had an accident of sorts (as a non medical professional, I might classify it as more orthopedic in nature) but which involved an ambulance, ER, hospital admittance and surgery. At the time, worrying about flight status was not possible to be concerned about. At some point afterwards, (and prior to any flight), it occurred to me how this might impact my flight status both on my current medical certificate as well as renewing the certificate prior to expiration date.

The reality is that I am not a doctor so I would have no way of knowing what does and what does not impact my flight status outside of some very obvious things. I scheduled a consult with my regular AME and discussed it with him. Told him everything that happened and he asked whatever he wanted to ask me.

My AME told me that I was fine to fly when I felt that I was recovered and feeling good. He also told me that this would not impact my next flight physical with him although obviously it needed to be listed on the form as this was surgery and hospital admittance.

My AME trusts me to make an accurate disclosure, understands all of the above, and I trust him to act accordingly. Should he instead make me jump through all the hoops the FAA would require if I actually had the things I might have, but didn't have, wrong with me? That would be unreasonable. I guess some AME do require that from their applicants, but not all do, and I've seen no evidence the FAA does.

@Lindberg - The AME Doc whom I go to may have a similar approach as your AME Doc. We had a very open discussion (during the consult) and he trusted that I was telling him everything accurately to the best of my knowledge and as I recalled it. He did not require documentation or paperwork. It sounds like some other AME Docs may take a very different approach.

 

[WingmanMed]

Thank you for your response,
Since I know all of those tests would come back fine and that this was just a fluke of being sick…should I be worried at all about deferral? I have already worked through a special issuance before and just got my regular 1st class. When you say “issuance in office” does that mean without having to be also approved by OKC?
Should I go to my AME now to get started on those cardio related tests?

Honestly, it really comes down to the documentation you have now vs what you might need. If the only thing the FAA has is a diagnosis of syncope or near syncope then they need to know why. If your existing documentation doesn't adequately explain that, then you need to get documentation that does. We have helped several people with stories almost exactly like yours get their medical without needing to do a whole bunch of extra tests. The issue comes down to the disqualifying condition of "transient loss of control of nervous system function(s) without satisfactory medical explanation of cause."

If it is easily explainable by a GI bug, and your documentation can show that, then it is no longer disqualifying and it isn't syncope. The FAA is willing to look at the documentation and disagree with a crap diagnosis. But it all comes down to preparation.

 

[bbchien]

And if you you wish to be certified within eight months, you do the prep. OR you can put up with rounds and rounds with the agency and timelines for getting stuff done that particularly during “deductible rush” season, you just can’t get done in time,.

The strategy is, for a non SI condition, get the data, issue the certificate and defend it successfully. Syncope falls into that category…..