Medicines and CDL drug test

@hopeful eyes
Respectfully asking, how old are you?

 

Sure. What parts of my post are you having a problem with?

 

You whipper snappers!

 

No problem, i just would like to know what you know lol.

i don’t believe i’ve ever heard this before...
“The only problem is that if an ME has a 100% passing rate for any length of time he's going to come under scrutiny from a regulatory agency.
The ME is expected to disqualify some applicants”

Doctors aren’t cops with a quota of tickets that must be handed out.

It seems to me like you offered up opinion as fact.

 

ME's flunk drivers. There's nothing punitive about it. Think about it for a minute. If you were an ME and you saw fifty patients a week for a year looking for a DOT physical some of them are bound to be marginal and some of them won't pass at all. Law of averages, no?
I'm not saying the ME will intentionally flunk an applicant. There's no need to. The guidelines will take care of dq-ing the unfit.
A doctor is already working under a lot of pressure and potential liability. If he okays a marginally qualified driver and that driver goes out and kills or injures somebody because of his medical condition...well, he'll find out real quick if his malpractice insurance is any good.
And, for what it's worth, most of what I know about doctors and the medical profession came from my wife and some of her colleagues. She was an MD with a practice in pediatrics for over fifty years.
The rest of my knowledge and attitudes about medicine come from an old friend that I went through school with. He was a GP and did FAA medicals and DOT medicals for many years. He finally quit doing them when his malpractice insurance rate tripled because of the liability. He said that truck drivers, as an occupational niche, were the absolute worst physical specimens he'd ever seen. Before I replied here I called him and asked him if he could remember what percentage of drivers he flunked. He said that it usually ran between ten and fifteen percent.
So, the ME isn't out to get anyone. But he's sure as hell not out to save anyone either. Given a choice either way, he's going to do what's safe for him.

 

I would like to expand a bit on this. I agree100%, in fact I have made several posts about this over the last 2 or so years, in TTR and other websites. The FMCSA also is under some intense pressure as well. This is why they have allowed MEs to make some of these decisions. "THIS" is why MEs will "flunk" a driver "PENDING" that same driver going back to their personal physician and getting THAT provider to certify they are fit!

It is VERY interesting how the subjects being discussed parallel my personal life. This morning I woke up and after reviewing my emails noticed a guy I know was talking about getting a 90-day card just like the other day another told me they got a 90-day card. I'm not at liberty to discuss why but he has 90 days until he gets back to see his doctor (VA Provider) in Richmond and gets a letter. This is how some MEs are dealing with marginal situations.

 

This process is spelled out in 40.131. A non positive result is reported to the DER " Designated Employer Representative" or C/TPA "Consortium/Third-Party Administrator" and the testing is finished. This process is in 40.165 and 40.167. A positive result is reported to the DER or C/TPA after the MRO follows the requirements found in 40.131. I think 40.131(a) sums it up!

(a) When, as the MRO, you receive a confirmed positive, adulterated, substituted, or invalid test result from the laboratory, you must contact the employee directly (i.e., actually talk to the employee), on a confidential basis, to determine whether the employee wants to discuss the test result. In making this contact, you must explain to the employee that, if he or she declines to discuss the result, you will verify the test as positive or as a refusal to test because of adulteration or substitution, as applicable.

While I am on the subject PLEASE make dang sure you put a good valid phone number on the chain of custody form. Some drivers won't put a good number on this form and this is why some drivers get into trouble on a false positive. This is covered in 40.131(c)

(c) As the MRO, you or your staff must make reasonable efforts to reach the employee at the day and evening telephone numbers listed on the CCF. Reasonable efforts include, as a minimum, three attempts, spaced reasonably over a 24-hour period, to reach the employee at the day and evening telephone numbers listed on the CCF. If you or your staff cannot reach the employee directly after making these efforts, you or your staff must take the following steps:

 

I take a medication which is explicitly allowed for me and my particular health needs in the FMCSA Medical Examiner Handbook.

Every time I test I expect to get a call and I have my pharmacist's phone number ready for when the ME calls.

I provide the phone number and all is OK.

If you do not have a valid prescription you will fail but for many medications that are acceptable under the FMCSA ME guide it is simply a non issue.

 

Very Unusual But Very Legitimate Question:
1) Is it possible to come up with a test result, (DOT physical or drug test), of being "too clean"?
2) If so, what constitutes being "too clean"?
3) Could or would being "too clean" prevent an applicant from getting a truck driving job?

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

The absolute sheer driving force of our national economy - without truck drivers, our entire national economy would come to an absolute standstill - if not outright be dead.

Over the mountains, through the woods, into the valleys, coast to coast, from sea to shining sea - truck drivers can and do go anywhere and everywhere, every day, all year round.