DS Previously DQed by DODMERB and Waiver Denied-current candidate

[candidatemomoh]

My son earned two conditional appointments by two service academies while in high school but was DQed for a diagnosis based on an incidental, nonrecurring medical event at the beginning of his junior year. Despite our efforts to submit medical evidence clearing him, his waiver was denied. It is three years later and he is a candidate with two service academies. The incident/diagnosis has never appeared..requires no special diet, no allergies and completely treatment free for any medical issue for five years.

We think he was misdiagnosed in 2014 but the diagnosis was never changed by the original provider.

Will he get stopped at DODMERB again?

Thank YOU!

 

[mrfritz44]

I'm not sure anyone will be able to tell if DODMERB will DQ him again, but I helped my DD work through a misdiagnosis of asthma in her junior year. We worked directly with her primary care physician so that they acknowledged the misdiagnosis and commented on the real cause of her respiratory issue. Her physician then sent an email directly to USAFA and this no doubt helped her eventual waiver.

You'll likely need to be polite but persistent with your physician office and educate them with what is at stake. Most physicians and office staff don't realize how stringent the DODMERB process is and that a half million dollar education, among many others things, is at stake. Squeaky wheels get the grease, especially if a misdiagnosis is the only thing standing in the way of an appointment for your DS.

Good luck.

 

[Pima]

DoDMERB exams are only valid for 2 yrs. I don't know what he was DQ'd for, but many times there is fine print regarding time frame periods. IE X amt of time from a surgery, under 1-2 yrs it is a DQ, above that you are good to go. No flaming just giving an example.

Just saying, he maybe out of that window. He may get a remedial. He may still get a DQ, but because he is so far out he is now waiverable.

Get all of your paperwork in order since you obviously still have to acknowledge this diagnosis because after the age of 13. If you can find a specialist for this medical condition, especially one with military experience, and can afford it, I would go to them and specifically show them that DQ with the conditions of the DQ. This will allow the doc to specifically respond per se the DQ.
~ IE. Making it up right now.
~~ Patient has been evaluated on X date for XYZ. As a specialist in XYZ, this patient impo was mis-diagnosed by their primary care giver. They show no XYZ symptons. My diagnosis is...

My DH got a DQ shortly before commissioning (ROTC cadets will get an exit DoDMERB exam in college prior to commissioning). He was going rated for AF. They DQ'd him for scoliosis, which would allow him to commission, but not fly because of the degree of curvature in his spine. His sister had scoliosis, requiring a medal rod be fused into her spine. His folks took him to a renown specialist that did his sister's surgery. They re-did his xrays. The doc specifically wrote a report stating and supplying new xrays vs the old ones, that the AF review board were wrong. It showed via shadows that he inhaled/exhaled while it was being done, whereas the ones the specialist did he was perfectly still. His curvature was 2 degrees below the limit instead of 3 above. DQ was gone, and he was never tested again for scoliosis.

Just saying, sometimes a specialist is the way to go instead of a primary. No offense to a primary, but they are not specialists.

 

[candidatemomoh]

As expected, my son received a dodmerb status of Pending Waiver Submission/Review based on having history of condition that previously disqualified him from two service academy appointments.

How do I find out the appropriate verbiage to have documented by medical provider to reflect the age of the former exam with incidental finding of condition and current status of perfect r health of three years which was recently documented by physician