[Kharon]

Is stranger than anyone thinks.
At the height of the mating season, it tries to bugger the Sphinx.
But Sphinx posterior orifice, is blocked with sands of the Nile;
Which accounts for the hump of the camel and the Sphinx's superior smile.

It was my intention to delete the words of the ditty above; got bored - roped into a maintenance test.  But it can stand; the music to go with it is –HERE.   For once again the lobotomised assistants in Frankenstein's laboratory have decided to have another go at the embuggerance of pilot medical standards.  Every time the BRB entertain our brothers from the USA, sooner or later a 'medical' matter will be commented on; they simply cannot believe the problems we have in Australia.  It's not only the delays in getting your hands of the wretched certificate; the process involved in passing the bloody thing.

When the word got out that the grandiosely titled 'Principal Medical Officer' (PMO)   

Dr Pooshan Navathé
MBBS, Dip Occ Med, Dip Aviation Safety Regulation, B Ed, MD, MBA, PhD
FAFOEM (RACP), FRACMA, FRAeS, FAeMS, FAsMA, FACAsM, AIAMA, SAVMO (ADF)
Principal Medical Officer.

had quit; after the CVD debacle (colour vision) there was a huge sigh of relief.  Affectionately known as Pooh-Shambollic; his litigious attitude toward specialist medical advice was as famous as were some of the rebukes he received from judges and tribunal presidents, nearly as well known as his penchant for moving the medical goal post.  Say, for example, your clinical test score was four out of a CASA maximum allowed six; you could reasonably expect a tick.  Not so; the Pony-Pooh age scale is brought in; last year four was acceptable; but at midnight on your birthday you become a safety risk, now you're stuck with four as a maximum.  Once you are at an artificial CASA maximum, you are deemed borderline; and, off to the Specialist you go. 
 
The Specialist says "this is Bollocks, the normal range is between 3 and 15; we don't even treat until we have a reading of 12" -(stern WTF look)– "so, bugger off and stop wasting my time".  "Not so" sayeth the litigiously enamoured  Pooh-Shambollic, reaching for his unlimited budget:  and it's of to Tribunal or Court (your choice, your expense), where if you get lucky, Pooh-Shambollic may just get his ears pinned back; maybe not,  it's a very risky lottery.
 
The letter below is a typical howl of outrage, one of the many seen; but it is a shock.  The legacy of the PonyPooh- Shambollic method has survived.  We all hoped sanity and reason would creep back into the medical basements of Sleepy Hollow; seems not.
 

Hello Xxxx,

 Thank you for your advice, I want to make a further complaint and observe that you are answering an email that I addressed to Xyyyy of your AVMED office.
 
My further complaint is that AVMED is now, without any justification, making more stringent requirements of me for my next exam. "The oddest things happen at the oddest times" a refrain from a TV advertisement. These new requirements come at the same time that I have been prevented from flying because AVMED has been negligent in regards to my right to fly by denying me a valid medical certificate to which I was entitled. Dr Xyyyy's rapid accession to my email today by emailing my normal medical certificate immediately is testament to my opinion.

There are now these new, more expensive and onerous requirements for my next examination. Why is this so, and why now? 

The new and more stringent requirements are quoted below in parentheses, quoting from your email that came to me in company with my renewed medical (belatedly) valid to 7th Nov. 
 
"When your medical certificate becomes due for renewal, in addition to the usual renewal medical examination and age-related tests, please provide a report from your Cardiologist with respect to: 

 Clinical status (symptoms such as pain,· Confirmed diagnosis ·  Investigations·palpitations, dizziness, breathlessness)  conducted. 

Results of a recent (within the last 3 months) stress test 

Fasting lipids &  Management ·glucose

Control of cardiac risk factors 

 Proposed monitoring and·Treatment or interventions side-effects  follow-up plan."

The stress test I have been doing annually since 2002. The diagnosis has been completely accepted in the past and there is nothing to doubt it currently. I have been on a follow up plan that has been successful and known by all concerned. I am checked every year by a cardiologist and my CASA Designated Aviation Medical Examiner (DAME) and informally by my GP. Glucose as you are well aware is a routine check by my DAME. All of this annually in spite if the fact that a my previous DAME, since retired, after 40 odd years of practice stated that I should have been regularly allowed a two year medical. 

Furthermore you have not acceded to my request for information, nor acknowledged it, nor have you given me any concise information about how my complaint is to be treated or by whom.

I realise that you personally are not in control of AVMED policy in any way, therefore this email should be directed to the PMO and the CASA Board, and I would appreciate your confirmation that this email reaches both of the aforementioned. 

Please forward my additional complaint forthwith, in company with the prior complaint to your Clinical Governance Coordinator. May I have this person's name please?

All of the above in the knowledge that there is not a study anywhere that can draw a line between aviation medicals and the safety of flight. If you have one such study I would be pleased to read it. If such reason is demonstrably true then would not driving on the road surely command the same degree of medical scrutiny? 

Thank you, 

Xcccc Xbbbb
10,000 hours since 1965

This email is open to the public.

Unclassified