Marten Transport Sleep Apnea scam

Its the mega carriers that are behind all these rules and regs tempered by "compliance."

 

To the original OP... Driver with all due respect & I don't want to start an argument with you, but you couldn't be more wrong on so many points you have tried to make about sleep apnea. Here are a few facts for you to consider in your rage against Marten.

Fact 1. Any respiratory therapist under federal law can & routinely do prescribe sleep apnea therapy & treatment. The therapist cannot prescribe medication based treatment as you are quite correct that does require a doctor. It's insurance company regs that have often left it to doctors to do the sleep studies & prescribe treatment. But a standard respiratory therapist can do it just the same. Most sales people working in this field are in fact licensed & trained in respiratory therapy as it is part of their job.

Fact 2. The Mayo Clinic published it's concerns with the adjustment of these machines regarding the ability of patients to set their own treatment parameters. They were not concerned about CPAP therapy itself as the medical science is quite clear on this & really being beyond dispute after more than 30 years of study & published findings of fact. Mayo Clinic wanted to make it so that patients couldn't alter the settings on their machines with regard to therapy. Yet it's not illegal to adjust settings on your individual machine if you want to control your therapy & dial in the best settings for yourself.

Fact 3. CPAP therapy in fact can & does save lives. Full stop. Period. There are a growing number of cases where people are dying in their sleep due to sleep apnea & after the fact an autopsy shows they had minor to severe obstructive sleep apnea. Even a minor case can be fatal if other health factors are not taken into consideration. Weight, diet, health history, heart disease, other unknown health issues yet to be discovered are all made more severe & complicated when sleep apnea is thrown into the mix. People who have & are aware of it yet refuse to be treated, & people who have it & aren't aware of it are the same ticking time bomb. It will go off eventually.

Fact 4. While this may not be an official rule written into law yet, the key word is yet driver, you can bet your last dollar that it will be. The FMCSA is without a doubt going to institute some form of mandatory sleep apnea testing & treatment for professional drivers at all levels sooner rather than later. It doesn't matter whether you travel coast to coast or deliver beer throughout town. You will eventually be faced with this testing & required to have CPAP therapy if you meet the conditions. Have you not been watching the news? Obamacare for better or worse is the law of the land & that isn't going to change now or going forward. The politicians have done their irreparable harm & now it's time for the infinite finger pointing for the next 50-100 years. You & I as well as every other professional driver will now live with these consequences in how it'll affect our jobs today & going forward. It sucks but in this case the reality may save you life.

Fact 5. You can't trick these machines into thinking you are using them properly. As was stated above quite correctly you really screwed yourself in this instance. The software is much smarter than that you thought that controls their use. And there is no need to worry about viruses or outside manipulation of the operating parameters of the machines software since it is a closed circuit system that needs direct interaction to change or alter the settings. You can however be monitored remotely & that is what got you caught.

Finally let me say this. When I left driving in 2009 I was diagnosed with sleep apnea after my wife was terrified of my stop breathing episodes in the night. Now I'm no truck stop fatty as is too often the image of the professional trucker (with good reason I might add too). I'm 6'2" & weigh in at 270. But most of that weight is concentrated in muscular arms, shoulders, a rounded chest, legs, calfs & I generally have the look of a squat body builder. Yet I've hardly spent any time in a gym throughout my life. It was genetics & physical labor in the workforce that gave me this build. I have however developed a small 'pooch' over my waistline but nothing serious. I was diagnosed with moderate to severe sleep apnea in late 2009 & put on CPAP therapy. It took me about a month of repeated visits to my respiratory therapist to finally dial in the right pressure settings & find a suitable mask to wear but it made all the difference. Now I get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep every night & if I'm not busy the next day I sleep right through a solid 9-10 hours easy. I was lucky if I was getting 4-5 a night when I was driving. I was a danger to myself & to others while I was out there driving tired without proper rest. You don't realize it yet but you are as well.

Your claims of going to OOIDA, with it's vocal but largely irrelevant 150,000 membership minority, to help defend your 'rights' are not to your benefit here. How many times have read in Landline how OOIDA is "All over this issue or that issue & they by God are fit to be tied & will make sure nobody gets away it anymore!"... only to see a few months later that as usual they caved? Yeah it's pretty routine with the folks over in Grain Valley to talk a big line but in reality they do nothing. I speak from personal experience & my voice isn't alone as a former card carrying member who paid my dues & fought the good fight. Gov't regulation of the health of truck drivers isn't going to get any less it's only going to get more & more invasive. Again let's just take a look at the truck stop canned ham fatties that are climbing in & out of trucks who have made little to no effort to take care of their own bodies. We'll either comply or as the old saying goes "seek employment elsewhere" & that's the bottom line.

You also spoke of suing Marten if they come after you? Sue them with what? They are a billion dollar transportation company with top priced attorneys & you have what? Yeah I'd drop that too. You didn't stop them from collecting from you using some website. You only masked your information from them. It's still quite easy for them to pursue money from you if they choose. They have all your relevant financial information, home address, date of birth, medical history... Best to let that sleeping dog lie since this really isn't about any rights being violated. I'm not defending Marten cause I haven't worked there & certainly I have my issues with trucking companies I've dealt with. But no law has been broken here Marten is just getting ahead of the coming wave of regulations.

If this comes off as offensive to you or mean spirited I don't mean it to be & I apologize in advance. But your wrong headed views & claims on sleep apnea & CPAP therapy are helping no one here. It is an issue of growing concern bordering on an epidemic in trucking & society as a whole & it needs to be addressed not swept under the rug or ignored for claims of one's rights being violated. Wait until the 1st wave of accidents happen & families of motorists are injured or even worse killed by a tired trucker who didn't sleep. Then we can have a big discussion on whose rights are being violated.

Oh & reference the Alvin Willkerson case involving Crete Carrier in N Florida from 2006. Seven children died because he didn't get any sleep. I'd bet sleep apnea played a role too. But we'll never know just like those 7 babies are never going home from school.

Think about it & be safe in your travels driver!

 

Hey Trudger, what was the name of the company Marten used? Was it by any chance PPD?

 

How do truckers get medi cal ?

 

did you not read? "I had medi-cal at the time" I also said in another post I did my study on my own and before going into trucking

 

sad thing , this forced sleep testing, isn't a federal law.

 

I have mixed feelings, there are a lot of tired drivers out there who have sleep apnea and either do not know or deny it.