In the Aviation Industry
Coming Soon!
The unspoken truth of how airlines remove pilots for reporting safety, calling in fatigued, using too much sick leave, or suggesting improvements for safer operations... As it turns out calling a pilot crazy is more effective than firing them. If a pilot is terminated unjustly, they have legal rights to return. However, if they are deemed unfit to fly, they have no rights.
It doesn't matter if these pilots never lose their medical certificates. If the airline pays a doctor to create a diagnosis, then the airline will not allow the pilot to return to flight status. Some will get jobs at other airlines at half the pay and at the bottom of the seniority list. Others spend every penny fighting for justice. Some are forced into an alcohol rehab program, whether they are an alcoholic or not.
One would ask why anyone would do such a thing? That is the million dollar question. The answer could be simple as, a sociopath in power.
This book, however, is on the medical side of this retaliation of how doctors are paid for creating a false diagnoses to remove an airline pilot. Many months ago I posted a passage from a medical report created by one of these doctors. Clearly extortion is written all over this page.
This doctor tells the pilot that if he contacts an attorney, files a complaint with the medical board, rescinds the releases he initially signed, or continues to allude to legal action that he would be found mentally unfit. However, if he drops legal action there might be a chance of a favorable diagnosis.
I also learned that the doctor who wrote the above report for one pilot, received close to $74,000 for a mental health examination of another. To put that in perspective, the average evaluation is closer to $3,300. This doctor went as far to tell pilot on Christmas Eve they would never fly again, despite notifying the company two months earlier. He has destroyed numerous lives over the course of his career. Sadly he is not alone, as there are other doctors just like him.
Can we stop these doctors?
Sometimes good news does prevail. After numerous calls to the medical board, and a half a dozen reports on the same doctor, a lengthy investigation prevailed. There was enough information identifying this doctor to have unethical behavior to send the investigatory report to the "controller."
The controller held this report for 9 months due to workload, but when he evaluated it, he too saw a problem and sent the doctor to the disciplinary board. Last week, the disciplinary board agreed with previous recommendations, and they sent him to the medical prosecution board. This next phase will take another two months, but the system is working.
The controller held this report for 9 months due to workload, but when he evaluated it, he too saw a problem and sent the doctor to the disciplinary board. Last week, the disciplinary board agreed with previous recommendations, and they sent him to the medical prosecution board. This next phase will take another two months, but the system is working.
While this will not get the lives back that this doctor has taken, it will prevent him from harming anyone again. The next question is, if a doctor loses his license and prosecuted for taking money with intent to do harm and fraud, what will they do with the organizations that paid these doctors for his false diagnoses? As this doctor, and others are officially prosecuted, I will post their names. If anyone has been harmed by one of them, these pilots may have recourse to open up their case to be revisited.
For those who have been subjected to a mental health evaluation for reporting safety, calling in fatigued, or being forced to fly unfit, you have rights under the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, known as an Air 21, the whistle blower law. Please know that forcing someone into a mental health evaluation is considered an "adverse action" in the eyes of the law. If you need help, contact Lee Seham to learn the laws of protection, as you only have 90 days.
Stand by... this story is not over, and the book is in underway.
Enjoy the journey!
XO Karlene
Excellent blog Karlene, I hope manypilots that sufferd from This injust treatment will benefits by it!
ReplyDeleteThank you An! I hope we can get them some vindication too. Mostly, we need to prevent this from ever happening again. I will do my best!!! Thank you so much for your support!!!
DeleteIt is sad the media lets the airlines get away with these character assassinations. Sometimes I suspect they sympathize with these Soviet tactics. Stay strong Karlene!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. One of the doctors told a pilot, "If you were in my country, you would have known they were going to do this to you!"
DeleteKarlene
ReplyDeleteThis practice clearly has to stop. We need lo lobby Congress to put the brakes on this process. Dr Gary Kay makes lots of money off his cogscreen while hiring any doctor to perform these tests at our expense
I have learned a great deal about the cog screens, known as neuropsychological testing. These repeated tests are money makers, and results will change after the first time the test is taken. All tests can be found on the internet, and there are doctors also making money training pilots how to take the tests. So, they mean nothing. But, it doesn't matter at the end of the day, because these doctors will misinterpret the tests if paid to do so. I few examples of this practice will be going into this book.
DeleteKarlene this book needs to go to congressional persons with oversight of the FAA. Dr. Gary Kay his carved himself and a bunch of quacks a cottage industry to extort money from pilots. We don't have suicidal pilots in the US. German Wings is nearly impossible in the US. Even professionals admit mental illnesses are rare amongst pilots unless there is a brain injury or substance abuse. It's simply time we put the brakes on the quacks and put them out of business.
ReplyDeleteI don't have information on Dr. Kay's involvement, other than he creating the tests. I would like to know more. Three of the cases in this book, he wasn't participating However, his tests were.
DeleteThe reality is, that these tests do not test the aptitude of the pilot, nor can they test the inclination of a pilot who may take his life. People will take their lives for a variety of reasons, but this test would not be an identifying factor.
What could be a triggering event would be to pull a pilot and not tell them why... only that they were aligned with the German Wings pilot. Isolate them for 6 weeks, and then put them into a most abusive evaluative process, and wait until Christmas Eve (9 months later) to tell them they will never fly again. That almost feels an intentional breaking down and pushing a pilot to take their life.... and this was done in alignment with the airline and the doctor. Perhaps we should give these tests to management?
Thanks for your comment!
Karlene,
ReplyDeleteSuch chilling issues, worst than a psychological thriller! It seems you're expected to be a cog in the machinery, and the squeaky wheel gets the boot, safety be damned. So glad you are uncovering this corrupt crap—Keep up the great work!
Eric
Truth is stranger than fiction for sure. You could not have said that any better... Get rid of those who try to make a difference, and safety be damned. Go figure. But... times they need to be changing!
DeleteThanks for your comment!