Fixxxer3

Hello all,

Throwaway acct (for, well, reasons), but was wondering if anyone here has ever encountered an Illness that put them in the hospital for weeks, and then rehabilitation for a few months after, and at the same time voluntarily handed their medical in until they were up to flying status again?

The logic behind this would be, the doctors will report you to the FAA if you don't self-report. They sight HIPPAA as their duty/onus to report a pilot not being factual on their current flight health/status. Also you have to take meds on the FAA "no-fly" list, during recovery.

Any insight about this would be appreciated. Thank you.

rickair7777

Huh?

Nobody in the US should be reporting your medical situation to anyone.

If you're not fit to fly, then don't fly. That's all you're obligated to do.

Don't surrender your medical unless asked to by the FAA. If asked to, talk to a lawyer first before you do anything.

Excargodog

You are kidding, right? Or are you merely fearful. Pretty much any serious injury or illness is going to disqualify you from flight duties temporarily, but except for the military, there is no formal procedure for grounding you. You are expected to take care of that yourself. For that matter, the physicians treating you have no access to what you are telling the FAA.

Now I’ll grant you, if you are hospitalized for acute schizophrenia and you tell them you have to get out because you’ve got to fly a load of pax somewhere, or develop a new seizure disorder, they MIGHT anonymously report you, but if you go skiing, get a broken leg, and are on pain killers for a week and a cast for six weeks, the ortho guy isn’t gonna call the FAA or anyone else, even though you shouldn’t be flying. Same thing for most any temporary medical condition.

JohnBurke

Utterly ridiculous. If you're sick and you're attended by physicians, they couldn't care less if you're a pilot or a circus clown, and have no interest, nor obligation to "report" you to anyone.

Any time you are medically unfit, your medical is not valid for use. This is printed right on the medical certificate. On the back of the certificate, it states that "The holder of this certificate must comply with the standards relating to prohibitions on operation during medical deficiency (14 CFR 61.53, 63.19, and 65.49)."

To surrender your medical certificate is pointless. It's not valid for use during the time you're medically unfit. Once you're fit, you may or may not have to report your condition prior to returning to service, depending on what you've had happen or have had done. If you were getting over the flu, for example, once you're well, you're back in service. If you've experienced heart surgery, you'll need to submit certain documentation to the FAA before returning to service.

Surrender of your certificate is not done unless ordered by the FAA.

rpatte1637

Surrendering your medical is really up to you. I had a stroke in 2016 and just did not perform any flight duties after the event. It was not until I started submitting paperwork for my special issuance a year and a half later that I received a letter from the FAA saying that I did not qualify for a medical due to my stroke and I had to surrender my medical certificate, at which point I did (the certificate had expired by then anyway). The FAA did not penalize me in any way and nothing more was ever said by the FAA. It's now going on almost three years and I'm still working on my special issuance, but none of this is due to me surrendering my medical. My best advice would be just don't fly while you don't meet the minimums and only surrender medical certificate if requested by the FAA.

diamnd15

Once your done with your hospital stay get a few copies of all your medical records, paper, CD, usb, etc. Consult with your AME and figure out a game plane so your records can be sent to FAA CAMI in OKC. Hopefully they can get it worked out while you recover but don’t work quickly...

Fixxxer3

Thank you, everyone. I ended up in the hospital due to celiac disease and an associated reaction of under-eating, leading to low-body weight and malnutrition. Looking at a couple weeks here, and additional few months recovering. This may complicate things, compared to the cases you all mentioned already.

When I "came in" here, I planned on self-grounding anyways. But, my Dr. here in charge of the re-feeding program has opted to notify the FAA if I don't do it myself. To me, this still sounds like a breach of HIPPA, and I should get a lawyer. Would AOPA be the most effective/cost efficient way to start? I don't even want to mention this to my AME b/c I feel it's "leading" an issue that really isn't one. I know I can't fly now, or in the months ahead, so I've self-grounded, and told the Dr. that. But still, she threatens...I'm scared, because family is pressuring me too (because the Dr. says to)...

I don't want to lose my passion in life, forever...

rickair7777

AOPA would be cheap place to start if you have the legal service.

I suspect that the doc is wrong, and you would have a huge legal case against her if she notified the FAA. Docs in the US are probably required to notify authorities if someone is going to hurt themselves or others. But I'm very sure they are not required to notify anyone if you're not physically qualified to do your job... to do so unilaterally is probably a violation of law and ethics. Especially since she has no reason to think you're going to go flying???

But again the doc might feel obligated to tell someone if she believes you have a mental health issue and might be a danger to someone. If there's a mental health diagnosis, it could be complicated.

Excargodog

From the AME guide.


A history of acute gastrointestinal disorders is usually not disqualifying once recovery is achieved, e.g., acute appendicitis.

Many chronic gastrointestinal diseases may preclude issuance of a medical certificate (e.g., cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis, malignancy, ulcerative colitis). Colostomy following surgery for cancer may be allowed by the FAA with special followup reports.

The Examiner should not issue a medical certificate if the applicant has a recent history of bleeding ulcers or hemorrhagic colitis. Otherwise, ulcers must not have been active within the past 3 months.

In the case of a history of bowel obstruction, a report on the cause and present status of the condition must be obtained from the treating physician.
......

Unless your physician is alleging you have an associated mental health condition leading to the under eating the FAA would treat this as an, ‘Oh well, so what.’

Seems a strange issue for your physician to take a stand on. I’d suggest to her that she give her malpractice insurer a call to make sure she’s covered for the settlement for the HIPPA issue, and I’d expect the issue to evaporate unless you’ve convinced her you are a raving lunatic, and possible even then.

Fixxxer3

Hey all, sorry to be brief in my response, but I've been soaking in all the info you have shared with me! I really appreciate it, and can't thank y'all enough. This doc is a bit over-bearing, but I will be getting an aviation attorney to protect myself (and have informed my treatment team of this, as well as my declaration of having self-grounded already.) I'll keep you posted. I feel like I have hope, now.