medical waiver denial

[cluelessmom]

My son just received a denial for a medical waiver from the Air Force Academy for history of anxiety disorder. (Last year he had seen a therapist for learning coping mechanisms to deal with test anxiety). When they are deciding about the waiver, do they have just the medical records or his whole application. I didn't know if it would help if my son wrote another letter explaining he was taking an extremely hard course load as well as competing in varsity sports, at a very competitive school and this year he has had no problems, takes to the skills he learned. The therapist is upset about it, so we are having her and another psychologist do a follow-up evaluation. Also, in the therapists background information, she put that my husband takes some medication for anxiety and when my son was very young (around 6) we saw a therapist for learning how to deal with his frustration. Would either of these affect my son's decision? My husband didn't start the medicine till he was much older and is on a very low dose. Is there anything else we can do? Thanks.

 

[RetNavyHM]

First, I'm sorry about the waiver decision.

The waiver authorities review all the information that is available to them when they make their decision. I'm not sure why they made the decision they did, but I really do not think it has anything to do with your husband's medical history. If I had to make a guess, I'd have to say it is because the therapists visits were so recent.

If you can get additional information, a letter from your son, and you state that you are going to have him re-evaluated, so send those to DoDMERB as well. DoDMERB will forward the information to the waiver authority and they will review his case again.

 

[cluelessmom]

waiver approved

I just found out today that the waiver was approved. We had a re-evaluation by a new psychologist and the original psychologist sent a letter explaining her diagnosis and why she disagreed with the waiver denial. Thank you for your help in explaining how to proceed. If it hadn't been for your advice, we would have just accepted the denial.

 

[RetNavyHM]

Congratulations on the waiver reversal. They do not happen that often, but as you are proof of, they do happen. You will never know if you don't try!