Is it law to get a new medical card when getting on with a new company?

You have a point.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Because if they're working with a "sleep center" to push cpap machines (carrier finances them to you...for a profit, of course), there is incentive for them to push healthy and problem-free drivers to go through their fraudulent sleep study where they will almost certainly "diagnose" you with some level of sleep apnea (whether or not you ACTUALLY have it). Now, you CANNOT pass a physical without proving you have been using the machine, and it is dern near impossible (especially on the peanuts they'll be paying you, especially after they deduct for the CPAP machine payments) to get a second opinion and have that misdiagnosis removed from your medical records. This makes it more difficult for you to jump ship and go elsewhere (you owe them for the machine, and can't drive without it) thereby helping lower their turnover rate. It's a scam, and there is no logical reason to open yourself up to that sort of nonesense if yopu've already got a valid medical certification. Either accept what I've got, or you aren't worth my time even applying let alone showing up for orientation.

 

You do realize that there is no proof that anyone has been "misdiagnosed" with a sleep condition to sell CPAP machines? It's all smoke and mirrors. People "claim" stuff happens but never a single suit has been brought forward.

If you don't have a sleep problem then you won't be diagnosed with one. The guy I trained with swore he didn't have a sleep problem and was pissed they made him wear a CPAP machine to sleep. I sympathized with him until one night his mask fell off. That guy would snore so loud it would shake the truck and he constantly stopped breathing. It was almost scary.

When he woke up I told him he needed the machine more than anyone I knew.

 

Once again, in order to prove a misdiagnosis, the driver would have to have the means to pay for a 2nd opinion out of his own pocket (not likely on the peanuts he's being paid by the company that forced the sleep study). Then you have to hire an attorney (more money you don't have) in order to file the lawsuit. The company you're suing will do what they can to make your life even more difficult...such as limiting your miles to reduce your paycheck even further. You can't quit, because you owe them for the CPAP, and if you quit they'll want it back...and until thaty misdiagnosis is removed from your record, you can't legally drive without it. You're between a rock and a hard place, and the company holds all of the cards. If you've got the money to pay for your own sleep study and a lawyer, you're probably not going to work for a bottom-feeder company that screws drivers over with low pay and fraudulent sleep studies.

 

No. Your card is good. Most companies like to have you certified by their own physician though.