Medical Mistake

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I got my first medical when I was 16 about 30 years ago. I (or my parent I can't remembe) put I had eye surgery done went I was first born. Went for next medical about 8 years ago and said no and the subsequent one also said no. Do I make this correction or is it ok since it was previously reported?
 
I believe the proper answer would have been "Yes" with "PRNC" (Previously-Reported, No Change) in the comments.

The safest way to fix it is to to hire an aviation lawyer to call FAA on your behalf, explain that it simply slipped your mind (you were a newborn, after all, when the surgery was done), and that you now want to correct the record. The lawyer would not reveal your identity until after FAA agreed that this innocent oversight would not be the basis for any certificate actions.

Whether that's necessary, I don't know. You probably could call the Aeromedical Certification Branch yourself and fix it with no repercussions. But maybe not. Personally, I'd go the lawyer route.

Rich
 
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For consultative info, if you are a member of AOPA, you can call their Pilot Information Center and speak to someone there who is knowledgeable in the ways of FAA Medicals. Bonus points if you get Gary Crump, the guy in charge of that division.

While we appreciate you wanting to correct the "have you ever in your life" issue of this, if the FAA hasn't gotten up in arms yet, the correction might remain a yawner once you do declare it.

But do find out how to declare it correctly so the sleeper won't awaken.
 
Side note

If this surgery was when he was a infant, what if the parents never told the child? Wouldn't the fall under "answered truthfully to the best of my knowledge" ?
 
It's pretty common for me to forget to list old procedures. Who cares that I had my appendix out 50 years ago? If I can't remember whether I wrote it down last time why would they be surprised that I can't remember the event? The whole PRNC idea is a little stupid. If I don't report a change in the previous two years the PRNC thing is a given. In the OP example I wouldn't do a thing. Maybe report it next go around. Maybe not.
 
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Unregistered said:
I got my first medical when I was 16 about 30 years ago. I (or my parent I can't remembe) put I had eye surgery done went I was first born. Went for next medical about 8 years ago and said no and the subsequent one also said no. Do I make this correction or is it ok since it was previously reported?
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If it was previously reported, the FAA can't claim intent to deceive. I'm not sure how long the FAA hangs onto those old records, though. You should request the records the FAA has on you:

https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/copy_of_certification_records/

If you find that they still have those records and you see that you had once reported, I don't see why couldn't honestly and without penalty declare "previously reported" on your next medical.
 
If your a veteran you should automatically know how to respond . The more you volunteer, the more complex and frustrating it becomes with any govt. Agency, especially a medical situation that your primary care phys. Says has no effect on your current health or ability.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
If your a veteran you should automatically know how to respond . The more you volunteer, the more complex and frustrating it becomes with any govt. Agency, especially a medical situation that your primary care phys. Says has no effect on your current health or ability.
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"Don't ask, don't tell" has come full circle. :yes:
 
I had a "procedure" done right after I was born. Common to males. It was not reported on my medical application.
 
Zeldman said:
I had a "procedure" done right after I was born. Common to males. It was not reported on my medical application.
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Voluntarily surrender all of your certificates, go into witness protection, get a good aviation attorney with lots of specific experience, and you may be able to negotiate a deal where you can fly ultralights.

BTW that will NOT buff right out:no: Trust me, I have tried:yes:
 
Stevel said:
Voluntarily surrender all of your certificates, go into witness protection, get a good aviation attorney with lots of specific experience, and you may be able to negotiate a deal where you can fly ultralights.

BTW that will NOT buff right out:no: Trust me, I have tried:yes:
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Hit the gym, lawyer up and delete POA.
 
little side note about PRNC. I just went for my medical and PRNC is no longer an option on the computer form. the AME said that the FAA wants all of the PRNC stuff re-submitted and took PRNC off of the software. nice huh?

bob
 
unsafervguy said:
little side note about PRNC. I just went for my medical and PRNC is no longer an option on the computer form. the AME said that the FAA wants all of the PRNC stuff re-submitted and took PRNC off of the software. nice huh?

bob
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Until we hear this from a better info source such as Doctor Bruce, I'm calling shenanigans on this. I just filled out a mock MedXpress form and selected Diabetes on question 18 (I am Type 2). PRNC goes into the comments box that appears for items that you say yes to and is a text field. I entered PRNC into that box and it did permit me to get to the next page.

So thanks for your report, but I'll wait for a different source until we start yelling the sky is falling.
 
I have filled out a Medxpress form and had a medical within the past week. There was no mention of PRNC being unavailable to use, either on the form or by the AME.
 
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Everskyward said:
I have filled out a Medxpress form and had a medical within the past week. There was no mention of PRNC being unavailable to use, either on the form or by the AME.
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did you notice that the button that use to be there to select PRNC is no longer there? my AME said that they are changing the sytem so that everything reported will be in the form forever and it will pre-fill the history blocks. so to get the information in they are going to stop PRNC and make everybody re-enter it. he may just be getting ahead of the curve on it, but they did take the PRNC button off the form.
 
I'll admit that during my trial run last night, I did not see a PNRC button. But I don't recall if it was there in the past.

So far entering in the comments block "PRNC. Current physician status letter attached" has been okay with my AME and OKC.


If they are going to a system that will recall medical history information and doctor visits much like my name and address, then that is a step in a good direction.
 
If they're eliminating the PRNC option, then they're going to need to remove the 500 character limit from the explanations box. In the past, that limit has prevented me from explicitly describing everything under question 18x (the catchall 'any other condition' question).

I wish they would quit looking for ways to make the medical certification process more obnoxious.
 
unsafervguy said:
did you notice that the button that use to be there to select PRNC is no longer there? my AME said that they are changing the sytem so that everything reported will be in the form forever and it will pre-fill the history blocks. so to get the information in they are going to stop PRNC and make everybody re-enter it. he may just be getting ahead of the curve on it, but they did take the PRNC button off the form.
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Now that you mention it I did notice the dedicated button was not on the computer form but I typed it in and the AME didn't say anything when he reviewed it.
 
I just checked, and the PRNC button does appear to be gone, but the instructions (see attachment) still say that it's an option. (To get to these instructions, click on the question mark in the upper right corner of any MedXpress page.)

The last AME I submitted an application to started asking me not to use the PRNC option several years ago. He said it saves him a lot of time that way.
 

Attachments

  • MedXpress Instruction.pdf
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Palmpilot said:
The last AME I submitted an application to started asking me not to use the PRNC option several years ago. He said it saves him a lot of time that way.
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What did he want to see? The same textual description that you submitted on the prior application?
 
AggieMike88 said:
What did he want to see? The same textual description that you submitted on the prior application?
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He wasn't that specific. There's no way that I would have been able to remember exactly what I put down on my first application twenty-four years ago, so I just gave a brief summary of each one, and he seemed to be satisfied with that.

In addition, because of the 500 character limit on the explanations boxes, there was no way to fit everything in for question 18x (which is the catchall "other illness" question), so I just listed the most recent ones that would fit, adding "all others previously reported, no change," and nobody complained.
 
No way I'm going to attempt to recall what I put down 22 years ago. Sounds like a setup for charging you for submitting false information. I'm typing in PRNC, and if they want something in the computer, they can find the old records and enter it themselves.
 
I doubt that it's a setup for anything. I'm more inclined to believe that the average bureaucrat isn't able to anticipate the practical realities when they design forms like this.
 
Palmpilot said:
I'm more inclined to believe that the average bureaucrat isn't able to anticipate the practical realities when they design forms like this.
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I would agree with this. The system is likely better than whatever existed before. But with the various staffing challenges that CAMI has been experiencing, it's no longer the best solution for complying with the current regs.

(yes, yes, PBOR2 will change this... but no need to
horse.gif
that topic here)
 
Palmpilot said:
I doubt that it's a setup for anything. I'm more inclined to believe that the average bureaucrat isn't able to anticipate the practical realities when they design forms like this.
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I don't mean it is a setup in a nefarious way, but rather in a "there is no way I can reasonably be expected to accurately recall all this cr@p, so it is unreasonable to ask me to sign a forming saying I did".
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I don't mean it is a setup in a nefarious way, but rather in a "there is no way I can reasonably be expected to accurately recall all this cr@p, so it is unreasonable to ask me to sign a forming saying I did".
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I misinterpreted.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I don't mean it is a setup in a nefarious way, but rather in a "there is no way I can reasonably be expected to accurately recall all this cr@p, so it is unreasonable to ask me to sign a forming saying I did".
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This is the driving reason I save my MedXpress PDF files to DropBox and print it out for my filing cabinet. Permits me next time to copy/past or re-type the info.
 
It's the history from before MedXpress existed that's the problem.
 
Op here. Since I posted lady year, I tried to find out more about my issue. One parent says I had the surgery 40 years ago, the other said I didn't have it. I understand the omission has to be material, and I still have the issue that required surgery, but I still got 1st and 2nd class medicals. Do I call the FAA or let this go? I don't want a revocation or suspension and I hope coming clean would help. Thanks.
 
I had a hernia surgery when i was a kid and another hospitalization can't remember why I was just sick and got better. I had no idea of dates probably could guess within two or three years. When I did the medical as I recall I basically just put "as a child" and no recurring issues blah blah blah. I was a little kid for crying out loud I remember being in the hospital but that is about it.

Hire a lawyer? You have got to be kidding.
 
I know it seems silly in a way, but I read posts on the red board about omissions and revocations. AOPA medical said to write the FAA as it will be a red flag. Would think be an issue for Dr Bruce? Thanks for responding, all.
 
How about something that occurred before you were born? Do you have to report that? You weren't technically a person. Can the FAA get you for lying about something that happened before you were a person? I'm thinking about my grandson's fetal paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. It vanished at birth not to reappear and he's been given the all clear, no followup, by the neonatal cardiologist. (All I can figure is the sealing of the foramen ovale somehow eliminates some sort of inadvertent intermittent additional conduction pathway to the AV node but I cannot find any discussion whatsoever as to the exact mechanism. But what else could it be that would result in such a thing happening inside, but not outside?) Or is his 4 day NICU stay - once he became a person - considered a "hospitalization" that he must report?
 
That post reminds me of a lady whom I was briefly involved with who exclaimed, "You think too much!" ;)
 
I don't think anybody reports being in the hospital for their birth and I would think anything before that is not reportable either. I don't remember anything before I was 3 or 4 and I certainly don't remember anything from when I was less than zero.
 
Everskyward said:
I have filled out a Medxpress form and had a medical within the past week. There was no mention of PRNC being unavailable to use, either on the form or by the AME.
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When I renewed two weeks ago, PRNC was what I typed in but the AME asked what each one was anyway and then he typed the answers in. I thought he was just being more careful but perhaps not...
 
An AME told me he can always ask about PRNC items (and in some case it's a good idea).
 
Flymeariver said:
When I renewed two weeks ago, PRNC was what I typed in but the AME asked what each one was anyway and then he typed the answers in. I thought he was just being more careful but perhaps not...
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Was it a new-to-you AME? I have also been asked at times when reporting PRNC. I don't know what the AME wrote in, though.
 
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