MedXPress - Have you EVER been hospitalized?

MonkeyClaw

MonkeyClaw

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Timothy Miller
I am filling out MedXPress for my 3rd class medical. The last time I filled it out, I answered 'Yes' to the question 'Have you ever been hospitalized' question, because I went to the hospital several years previous for a concussion. I was discharged the same day, and no issues were found. My AME scowled at me and mumbled something about how he now has to make a remark about it in the notes or something, but I passed.

My question - do I need to answer 'yes' again? The question clearly states 'EVER', not 'since your last medical'. To me, this means I'd better stay consistent and I should answer 'yes'. Since my visit was only for a few hours in the ER, I guess I should have answered 'no' originally but now the damage has been done.

What says the peanut gallery? And (hopefully) Dr. Bruce?
 
MonkeyClaw said:
I am filling out MedXPress for my 3rd class medical. The last time I filled it out, I answered 'Yes' to the question 'Have you ever been hospitalized' question, because I went to the hospital several years previous for a concussion. I was discharged the same day, and no issues were found. My AME scowled at me and mumbled something about how he now has to make a remark about it in the notes or something, but I passed.

My question - do I need to answer 'yes' again? The question clearly states 'EVER', not 'since your last medical'. To me, this means I'd better stay consistent and I should answer 'yes'. Since my visit was only for a few hours in the ER, I guess I should have answered 'no' originally but now the damage has been done.

What says the peanut gallery? And (hopefully) Dr. Bruce?
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What exactly is "hospitalization"? If you went to the ER for a broken leg, is that hospitalization?
 
Yes, and now answer yes forever more. Congratulations on having integrity.
 
apilotb said:
What exactly is "hospitalization"? If you went to the ER for a broken leg, is that hospitalization?
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It has always been explained to me that it means you were admitted as a patient for treatment, not necessarily going to the ER and being treated /released same day.

Kinda like ‘if they gave you a room and you had to stay overnight’ kind of thing.

Now I will open the floor up to the internet lawyers who will promptly say I’m going to FAA hell for not reporting getting stitches when I was 6 years old....
 
The exact wording of 18.u is “Admission to hospital”. An “admission” to a hospital is a technical term. Not all visits are admissions. If you didn’t leave the ER, you probably weren’t admitted. Even some surgeries are often outpatient.
 
Once an answer in box 18 goes to "yes" it is forever on every other subsequent application "yes" or there's a lie in there someplace. The way the question is worded is, "Have you ever in your life".
And your past "yes" answers are know to any AME doing a flight physical, because one he opens the file and commits you to exam, he gets a "history" sheet from the system....
 
Palmpilot said:
Does the FAA not recognize the existence of errors, as opposed to lies?
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They do. But you have to have some corroboration, even if it's just circumstantial. And for many, the follow up by the pilot just digs the hole deeper. Without getting into detail, two stories

A pilot failed to disclose a drug conviction on the medical but did disclose it on the student certificate application. Responding to the OK City inquiry, the pilot apologized for the error and provided the requested information. Apology and explanation accepted.

A pilot said "no" to a heart condition after saying "yes" previously. Response to follow up was what the FAA (rightly or wrongly) saw as a bunch of excuses and attempts to justify the inaccuracy.

BTW, as a general caution, the first pilot sought professional advice as soon as the first inquiry was received. The second pilot handled it alone until receiving the proposed order revoking the pilot certificate (well after the medical was revoked).
 
I'm pretty sure a hospitalization doesn't count unless you spend the night more or less. That said I'm not sure how it works with having said something before about it.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
p1l0t said:
I'm pretty sure a hospitalization doesn't count unless you spend the night more or less. That said I'm not sure how it works with having said something before about it.
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From a medical and an insurance standpoint, less that 24 hours is generally considered outpatient but the FAA Aerospace Medicine department kind of operates in a different world. I wouldn't have included that item on a MedExpress application, however the OP already did and I guess will now have to live with whatever the consequences are. Presumably not much.
 
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Thanks for all of the replies.

I think my AME was thinking along the same lines as others - if it wasn't an overnight, I wasn't 'admitted'. Unfortunately since I had already submitted a 'yes' reply, he had to address it and I will forever have to answer 'yes' to that question...

What's even dumber is that they ask this open-ended question even though they already have an answer from the previous MedXPress questionnaire (assuming you've already done one).
 
Wait - another question... Do I include my last visit to the AME as a visit to a health professional?
 
MonkeyClaw said:
Wait - another question... Do I include my last visit to the AME as a visit to a health professional?
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Include the current visit as well.
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midlifeflyer said:
A pilot said "no" to a heart condition after saying "yes" previously. Response to follow up was what the FAA (rightly or wrongly) saw as a bunch of excuses and attempts to justify the inaccuracy.
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That's ridiculous, since presumably the medical was issued after the condition was disclosed the first time.
 
R2019 said:
That's ridiculous, since presumably the medical was issued after the condition was disclosed the first time.
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It does sound that way, doesn't it? No way of knowing but I think a different response to the inquiry is likely to have led to a different result.
 
bbchien said:
Once an answer in box 18 goes to "yes" it is forever on every other subsequent application "yes" or there's a lie in there someplace. The way the question is worded is, "Have you ever in your life".
And your past "yes" answers are know to any AME doing a flight physical, because one he opens the file and commits you to exam, he gets a "history" sheet from the system....
Click to expand...

That was one of the questions I asked of the FAA at a forum when MedXPress was first launched, would it remember previous information so you don't have to keep reentering the same information every time and reduce the chance of an accidental omission. The answer I got was not at first, but it would be something they would look into. So much for that.

I've been saving a copy of the form produced by the website each year so I can look back and see what I answered the last time, but you'd think the FAA could make that easier.
 
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