Not exactly true. On your FAA medical application form you certify that you are telling the truth, but you do NOT authorize them to access your civilian medical records...doctor/patient confidentiality still applies.

This means that they cannot just go on a fishing expedition. If they call your doctor out of the blue and ask to see your records he will rightly tell them to pound sand. However...if you were involved in accident or incident where reasonable suspicion existed, they COULD subpoena your records. The trick is that they need some reasonable suspicion to start with to justify a subpoena.

Also any medical records which are ALREADY legitimately in the hands of the government CAN be accessed at will...this includes military records and things like social security or VA disability stuff. This kind of thing CAN get you in a world of trouble...the FAA recently prosecuted some pilots after they cross-checked FAA medical certs with disability records. The important thing to note here is that the FAA DID NOT have (or need) any reasonable suspicion first, they simply cross-checked the databses and nailed everybody who held a medical but was on disability for a condition they forget to mention to their AME This was a pure fishing expedition.