“Obstructive Sleep Apnea”

“F   rom: Raymond Basri” “To: Civil Aviation Medical Associations” I basically agree with your remarks. I would like to offer these additional issues: 1. Using the BMI to defer pilots is going to affect the livelihood of some individuals. There should be at least one year of education and promotion of weight-loss programs. 2. Taking away medical certification without correlating to symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea is not medically sound. OSA cannot be diagnosed and penalties imposed without clinical correlation. Where are the questions to go along with the differential diagnosis? Why can’t we as senior AME’s order the sleep study, review the results and if normal approve certification? 3. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypoxia as well as coronary artery disease are far more significant conditions that are not being addressed currently. We do not ask the basic questions such as smoking history or coronary risk factors such as family history. How can we certify a first class medical for a pilot who is 64 years old, smokes, does not exercise and has a positive family history without getting this information in the first page of the 8500 form? I am much more concerned about that pilot being suddenly incapacitated during flight and not being given the requisite information during the examination. Respectfully submitted Ray Basri M.D., FACP 855-407-4568@ Sent from my iPhone On Dec 22, 2013, at 8:37 PM, Civil Aviation Medical Association <                                 > wrote: CAMA Members,   I recently was notified about an issue that CAMA needed to respond to.  This issue was concerning Pilots and AMEs and the proposed FAA mandate on OSA.  I had to gather up a quick response team for a letter to send theFAA Administrator, Michel P. Huerta.  Because of the urgency and need for a timely message, I chose a consortium of my executive board members for this purpose.  These members are experts in their respective fields and are seasoned AMEs.   I realize that all our members might not totally agree with the CAMA response but the elected board was thoughtful and all in agreement with the letter written.  It would have been nice to use more member input but this was impossible.   Mark C. Eidson, MD President CAMA   Please review the attachment. <CAMA_Response_to_OSA_12.3.13_(1).pdf>