HIMS lawsuits

[Palmpilot]

Wouldn't an attorney cost $5000 or more?

 

[allPrimes]

I'm not so sure about a lawsuit, but I am an aspiring pilot with a DUI, and I was just told by a HIMS psychiatrist that it's going to be $5000 for an evaluation and I'm going to have to be entered into the HIMS program. I've been sober in AA for 5 years....

I don't mind the idea of being monitored, but it's a pricetag I can't afford if I want to actually start paying for a PPL. Anyone have any insight? Is it possible to appeal the FAA to skip some steps of the HIMS stepdown?

If you’ve already applied for a medical, then all you can do is wait to see how much documentation and how many hoops the FAA will require. If you haven’t yet applied, gather all of the documentation you can related to your arrest and anything about your sobriety and recovery.

What I can tell you from my experience (DUI in 1999, 20 years of sobriety in AA) is that the FAA will put you in HIMS. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to skip a few step-down steps too, given my past history, but that is as yet undetermined. In my case, I was only required to see a neuropsychologist to do the “full battery” cog screen which was still not cheap ($3600) and do “14 in 12” urine analyses ($70 each) which are still ongoing until I hear back from CAMI.

 

[6t6]

Three steps to a succesful participation in the HIMS program


1. Realize the FAA is the adminstrator and granting authority in the HIMS program.

2. Understand that the FAA believes that AA is the path one must take to participate in the HIMS program

3. See step 1.

 

[kell490]

Does the FAA only allow AA, or any certified rehab program? Some of these rehab programs seem to be motived by profits then success I known a few people who spent lot of money at rehabs later found AA a free program worked better for them.

 

[tspear]

Does the FAA only allow AA, or any certified rehab program? Some of these rehab programs seem to be motived by profits then success I known a few people who spent lot of money at rehabs later found AA a free program worked better for them.

AA is the only one I have seen referenced, but that is anecdotal.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk

 

[6t6]

AA is the recognized 12 step program by the FAA. It's free and accessible just about anywhere in the world. It has about the best success rate over the long haul and that why if you attend then in the FAA's eye you can check that box on the long road back to good graces with the FED's

 

[AKiss20]

AA is the recognized 12 step program by the FAA. It's free and accessible just about anywhere in the world. It has about the best success rate over the long haul and that why if you attend then in the FAA's eye you can check that box on the long road back to good graces with the FED's

Other mutual help groups have been found to be statistically equivalent in their efficacy to AA [1] and the results in [2] suggests that certain demographics may find improved efficacy in AA alternatives. The FAA apparently will recognize SMART, and possibly other such groups, as an alternative to AA, but only after jumping through a bunch of additional hoops (or so it has been said on this forum by the likes of Dr. Chien IIRC). The fact that the government, be it the FAA or other agencies, still grants favored status to a non-secular organization like AA is problematic IMO.

[1] https://www.journalofsubstanceabusetreatment.com/article/S0740-5472(17)30490-7/fulltext
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5193234/

 

[Tools]

This is a weird thing...

HIMSPROGRAM.COM admits the government can’t require AA, since it’s religious. They require an abstinence based recovery program.

The HIMS program requires AA. But of course the FAA is one arm of the triad.

Soooooo.... what ya need is an AME to run interference basically. Find an AME that is good with an alternative and it’s fairly easy.

Quite frankly the FAA doesn’t much care about ANYTHING other than abstinence verification. Evidenced by the fact testing goes SEVEN YEARS, using really dicey methods. Followed by a LIFETIME of convincing an AME you’re not drinking, which makes more sense than not acknowledging false positives can (and do) exist, not having proper medical review ( which does not exist for biomarker testing) nor a protocol to deal with it (well, it’s anecdotally in its infancy).