Dr. Vicki Zueger and Dr. Patrick Stoiber are certified Medical Examiners through the Federal Motor carrier safety administration.
The medical examination certificate is good for 2 years and expires on midnight from that date of examination. Shorter certification periods may be granted for conditions that should be monitored, to allow lab testing, or to allow the medical examiner to contact the driver’s primary doctor.
If a driver is disqualified for a particular condition, say blood pressure, this condition will be evaluated at the next examination (after period of disqualification) and the date of the original full examination is used to calculate the new certifiable period.
FMCSA gives the examining doctor discretionary freedom to determine if a diagnosis medical condition is safe and or stable. The doctor will decide after the standard assessment if there is a potential risk to public safety if the driver is certified to be on the road.
If the condition is not controlled through effective medication, and therefore unstable in terms of stability and progression then the condition is likely to result in incapacitation from cardiovascular, respiratory or neurological compromise. Discretionary disqualification occurs if in the doctor’s opinion the driver’s medical condition will more than likely interfere with safe operation of a commercial motor vehicle.
However, automatic non-discretionary disqualifications apply to: history of epilepsy, diabetes requiring insulin [unless exempt], vision parameters not met [acuity, color, horizontal field of vision]; hearing measurements that fall below standards, taking methadone, current diagnosis of alcoholism, uses a controlled substance [narcotic, amphetamine, or any other habit forming drug without a prescription], taking Chantix to stop smoking.
Disqualifying conditions also include: vision inadequacy: acuity, color or peripheral, monocular vision, unstable proliferative retinopathy, inadequate hearing..even with aids, uncontrolled vertigo, Meniere’s disease, nonfunctional labyrinth or labyrinthine fistula, chronic cough with cough syncope, respiratory failure, uncontrolled apnea, oxygen therapy, diabetes uncontrolled by insulin, cardiovascular disease likely to cause syncope, dyspnea, collapse or heart failure, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, narcolepsy, motor neuron disease (ALS), Huntington’s disease, Wilson’s disease, current diagnosis of alcoholism, schizophrenia (confirmed by medical dx), suicidal behavior or ideation, active psychosis, dementias, central nervous system malignant tumors, epilepsy, mental conditions that affect sound judgment, migraines causing neurological deficit (visual defects).
Disqualifying Conditions: that may be appealed (appealed to neurologists) are: multiple sclerosis, myopathy, dyskinesis, muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular junction disorder, cerebellar ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson’s disease, treatable dementia and central nervous system benign tumor.
