Had my medical today...had problems and need advice.(warning...long)

[RSixer]

Sounds like you just went to a bad AME, some of those guys actually want to fail you, they get some kind of satisfaction from it, they feel as if they are doing their job by doing it, unfortuntally it is to late and you have to deal with it now. When you get this problem solved choose your Doctor carefully, ask around. If you have a heart issue more than likely you will have to do a 24 hour Holter monitor when you go for a medical.

 

[Doug]

two things.

1) I am not filing a complaint because the guy said I have a murmur. I am filing a complaint because this AME is the most unprofessional physician I have ever dealt with, and has no business giving FAA medicals.

2) My BP measured I believe was 132/95 (120/70-72 normally) at the AME. Does that mean I actaully passed the BP test? is 95 over or right at the limit?

 

[tsky]

All that I know is that once my b.p. was 155/95 and I passed my first class. It sounds like your B.P is not an issue anyway. He should have just taken it again and it probably would have been lower. Although I am not an AME, I think that 95 is the lower limit. I have had AMEs before who incorrectly think that the limit is 140/90. I think that you probably actually passed the B.P. test, but maybe your AME is misinformed.

 

[DaveJ]

tsky is correct. The maximum is 155/95, so you passed. By the way, this value is not in 14 CFR part 67 but can be found on the FAA web site at:
http://www.faa.gov/avr/aam/game/version_2/03amemanual/WEB/Medical Standards.htm

 

[Doug]

Ok, so if the doc marked 136/95 and said "deferred", will the FAA see it as a pass, or will I still need to provide the documentation.

Also, I called and left the office a message again today. STILL no call back. I am not going to contact the FAA about this AME until the I know the paperwork is out of his hands, but I do still plan to file a complaint. Not that it will help me, but if I can do anything to prevent someone else from going through what I went through, I will.

 

[tsky]

Since you have a heart murmur, you will probably need to provide documentation from your doctor that it is innocent. I had a murmer as well, and I had an EKG as well as a heart echo done. However, I only needed to do this once and not on subsequent medcials. If your AME has not sent your paperwork to the feds, and if you have your cardio eval done, he can issue you your medical, but if it's been more than 10 working days since your examination and he has sent your paperwork to the FAA, then you will probably need to provide your cardic eval to the FAA directly. I had a student once who had a heart attack in the past-he had to go through a bunch of hoops to get his medical but he finally did via a special issuance. The key with dealing with the FAA is to be pursistant and not give up, because they really don't want to deny anyone a medical, but they are just slow at processing it.

 

[qmaster3]

DOUG,

Always shop around for:

Flight Schools
CFI's
AME's
DE's

 

[Doug]

Finally got in touch with the AME office. They have NOT sent my paperwork to the FAA. I told them that I will have all the necessary paperwork this week.

 

[tsky]

That's definately good news that they have not sent your paper work of to the FAA. Try to get them to hold if for you as long as possible, and try to get your stuff to them soon.

 

[Doug]

As an update.

I got 3 BP readings documented, all well within limits. I also got my echocardiogram results which showed that I am in excellent health, Everything looks good, I dropped off the info at the AME, and will see what happens from here.