Piper 44 said:
So as long as the doctor thinks its ok theres a good chance everything will be ok????
thanks very much.
There's a lot more to it than that, but that's kind of the idea.
The deal is; most MOs (medical officers) at a recruiting center are employed to administer a general examination, and it's really not within their realm to do much more (due to time more than qualifications), so if they encounter something that's outside of the medical profile, whether it comes up in the examination or in your (or your family's) medical history, they generally need to confirm whether or not it will hinder your ability to do your job.
Some issues are pretty cut and dry; eg. if you're missing a limb, you will probably not be able to complete the required fitness test and thus, not be eligible for service. If you are prone to severe seizures, it's probably not a good idea to employ you in an environment where the lives of you and your section (sub-organization) depend on your physical abilities. If you have terminal cancer, it's probably unlikely that you'd be employed for any number of physical reasons...
But, some cases aren't so easy to discern, such as your case (perhaps).
So, when such an instance occurs, since the MO's, nor the CF recruiting system, have the time/manpower to deal with it, they will send you to your own family doctor. They do this because your family doctor is more familiar with your medical history. Also, this way, the CF doesn't have to get you to sign release authority paperwork and go through all the bureaucracy involved in transferring medical files when there is the possibility that you won't even qualify medically for the CF.
What they send to your doc is a general list of the physical duties you will have to preform in the CF and a letter asking your doctor to review your medical history and state that your are fit to preform the duties listed. Keep in mind, if the doc signs off on you and it turns out that you're unable to preform your duties due to medical reasons, your doc may be held accountable... so they tend to weigh the odds carefully (which sometimes takes a while). And their response isn't always "yes" or "no"... sometimes it can be a "yes" with an "if" or a "no" with a "but"... if this is the case, the CF (recruiting) compares this with the standards for the universality of service and decides whether or not you are "worth the risk", so to speak.
That's just the simple ins and outs of the process. All you need to worry about is; if they give you a letter, make sure you get it to your doc ASAP, then, when/if it's sign-off, you get it back to the recruiting center ASAP. And if you don't get a letter, then don't worry about it unless they tell you that you're not eligible to serve because of your medical condition... and if that's the case, you will need to talk to the recruiting center about appealing the decision (if you/they think its worth while).
Either way, as it has been said before; your best resource for questions about recruiting and the medical process is always the recruiting center.
