Reporting question
 

Looking for some help here on what and when to report. I know I need to report a kidney stone right away, but do I need to report an ER visit for the pain even if nothing was found? Is that just something I need to disclose on my next medical visit?

Define: “nothing was found.”

How many kidney stones have you had?
Have you been checked for issues that predispose you for stones?
Was an IVP or other x-Ray done?
Did they find blood in your urine?
What did they say was causing your pain?
What was the discharge diagnosis?
What was the recommended follow-up?
What class of physical do you possess?


The real issue is whether or not you’ve still got one or more retained stones or have medical problems that put you at risk to recurrence of stones. Answering your question requires a little more detail.

But in the final analysis if you have can’t demonstrate at the time of your next physical that all the appropriate criteria have been met and/or the major risks ruled out, the AME can’t issue.

You are generally better off working these issues before you go see the AME.

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...itiontable.pdf

What makes you think you need to report a kidney stone”right away”? And exactly to whom would you report it?

I’ve been through this. According to my AME, once a stone is diagnosed and either passed or removed, some sort of imaging, such as X-ray, must confirm no existence of a stone. This is then reported on your next physical.

Yes, IIRC if you have or reasonably suspect you have/had a stone, you cannot go fly again until you have positive confirmation that's it's cleared. I would contact my AME on that.

I’ve never had a kidney stone but my wife has passed two of them. Anybody who thinks they can control an aircraft in instrument conditions while being distracted by the pain of passing a kidney stone is fooling themself.

I went to the ER in the dead of night after hours of pain and vomiting, and was admitted, and operated on for a kidney stone. I was scheduled to do a long haul flight in the morning, and called the Chief Pilot from the hospital bed to say I was unavailable. He thanked me for the call and said to give him a holler when I got my medical back.

I didn't understand what that meant at the time, but I did understand that the condition had been completely debilitating. I'd have been unable to perform basic functions in the cockpit, like saying my own name, or counting to two. The pain was unreal, and the constant vomiting and nausea and other signs and symptoms would have prevented any semblance of doing any pilot duties.

I worked through my own AME, and a union AME, and was out for several months. I had a stent put in, three surgeries in total, and a bevy of tests, x-rays, scans, etc, plus a full workup from a urologist, reports, etc...and there was no going back to work until I could show free and clear, no retained stones.

It's not a matter of immediate reporting. When you develop the kidney stone, you're immediately grounded whether you report or not, because you do not meet the conditions for issuance. Any time you have a condition which would prevent issuance, the medical is invalid until you are recovered or over that condition. There are numerous such conditions, however, which require additional documentation to determine that you are "over" the condition. A kidney stone is one of them.

Until you present that data, you are medically unfit and the medical certificate is not valid for use.