What's to stop me from forging a medical card?

1. Doctors are not required to work 3 days straight as part of their residency. They are on call. But expected to be getting rest when not actively performing job duties.
2. Doctors can not prescribe themserves anything at all. I hear a good conversation with my doctor last time i saw him involving this very thing. I learned that drs hate the current healthcare climate add much add we do. He has to go through the same crap we do to get any appointment. Can't even get his buddy to see him during their lunch because everything had to go through the same bs hmo process anyone else would. Coming down with a bad cheesy cold on Friday afternoon and want a scrip to knock it out before it had a chance to turn into pneumonia? Tough diddly. Make am appointment for next Thursday.

 

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Went through this exact problem a year ago. Did a doctor give you Ninety Day Card and
tell you you had to get a sleep test? If so did the doctor record your Card with the state? If
so you are pretty much screwed. The law states that once a record has been established you
have to have the Sleep study done. The doctor recording your Ninety Day Card is establishing
a record with the state.

If you have to get a study done......you can go to any doctor.....as long as you get the
study done. I went to my family doctor and asked her to authorize a HST for me.
Home Study Test....usually costs about $300....maybe $350.....this test is DOT approved.
This is a test you do at home under the guidance of the Sleep Clinic.

I recommend any driver, such as yourself, to get the test done. If you take the
test and test negative you will get a certification that proves you have been tested.
Involved in an incident at a later time......the ambulance chaser can't do much to you,
you have already been tested. If you have not been tested you could find yourself
at the mercy of the law telling you what clinic to go to.

If you test positive than be prepared to spend some money. I was able to find a
local Medical Supply Clinic that set me up with an Automatic CPAP machine that
has adjustable pressure and also record keeping capacities. They did not charge me
initially for this. They allowed me to use the machine for 30 days so the doctor
would sign off. If you test positive you have no options till the doctor
signs off that you have been on a machine for thirty days. I was able to get my doctor
to sign off and than paid for the CPAP Machine thirty days later. Cost to me was $1400.
The doctor and the Sleep Clinic Technician looked at how I did on the CPAP and
decided what the correct pressure was for me.

If you got a Ninety Day Card the law will not permit you to get an extension. You
have 90 days to get this resolved, not a day more. Also the Clinics I checked with
require Health Insurance, they would not let me even do the original test without
a valid insurance card. Sounds like you have already lost your medical card and
your job, which means you don't have insurance anymore. This puts you
between a rock and a hard spot. Sorry I don't have better news for you. If you
have a good relationship with a company you might try to get them to help you
with the test and to regain your Medical Card. I have seen companies advertising
help for the drivers-----like helping drivers get their CDL. They help you than you
have to work for them for the next year or so......

Good luck. For the record this is a Medical Board problem. Not an Obama problem.
This issue will likely not go away. You want to drive, you will eventually have to be
tested.

 

A doctor will try to get you to do an Inlab Sleep Study. Involves hooking
you up to a elaborate machine that tests for more than is actually required
for an actual Sleep Apnea Test. Those tests cost upwards of $5000 dollars.
That is why I recommend doing the HST on your own dime, before a doctor
gives you a 90 day Medical card and makes a Sleep Clinic appointment for you
in the Clinic of his choice.

If you do the Inlab test they will hook you up and you sleep for half the
night, they than put you on a CPAP machine and let you sleep the rest of the
night. If everything goes well it takes only one night. If the test is inconclusive
in any way they will make you come back for a second night or a third or
forth.

Another angle of this. ....If you don't get tested but manage to find a doctor
somewhere that signs off on your Medical Card.....guess what happens if you are
involved in an accident........Lawyer looks at you realizes you are in the required
guidelines......he forces you to get tested and you test positive......guess who just
became responsible for the accident.....that is why many companies are requiring
the test before they even hire you.

 

It's also done in your home. You a doctor's order , they send you the equipment wear it a anight or to and send it back to them. They have a doctor read and and give the results

 

How things have changed.

I received a letter in the mail from the Dept of Homeland Security about my DOT car expiration. They warned me that if I did not have on file with HS a new medical card that my Class A was voided and reverted back to a D.

So, I got a new 2 yr and sent it to HS. And I called HS to confirm that they did receive and everything's a go and wrote the clerk's name down (I am paranoid like that), wrote it on the letter they sent and keep that letter with my long form. Office people have a tendency to screw up more than drivers ever could.

The company wanted a copy to update their files, but I'm not too worried about what they want.

That being said, you people that piss dirty and can't pass a drug test, you reaaaaaaallllly want to think twice before you burn one. You know that part of the application that asks if you have ever failed a drug test? They're going to know.

 

Wait...what's a medical card?