Hi everyone,
I got a response from Don Koranda tonight. I'm going to post my letter to him and his reply. I'll have more to say tomorrow. It's late and I'm tired.
BRG,
Jon

Dear Mr. Koranda,

I don’t know if you are following the thread on RCU about AMA and
disabilities, but if not I wanted you to be aware of what’s going on.

I’m the member who has gotten really involved in the issue and post
under the name of F106A.

I’d like to sum up what’s gone on so far:

A modeler in Fla has a pacemaker/defibrillizer that fired of when he
was at the field. The club BOD, fearing they would get sued if he had
an accident because of another “event”, banned him from flying solo.
They called the AMA and talked to Carl who confirmed their action was
correct. The modeler brought in documentation from his doctor that
said in so many words that this was an isolated event and shouldn’t
happen again. This information was sent to AMA and reviewed by Carl
who rejected it saying it was too ambiguous, and the restriction stood.


Well, after reading this whole thing I got a little upset and called
AMA and eventually talked to Carl. I asked him if the information on
RCU was accurate and he confirmed that it was. I then asked him what
about the statement from the doctor and he said it had to many
maybe’s, might’s, etc. and wasn’t specific enough to guarantee it
wouldn’t happen again. I then asked Carl, he couldn’t fly solo even
with a doctor’s note? He said, and this is a quote “ The only way he
can be reinstated is through the Intro pilot program”.

At this point I was starting to get hot, so I asked, this is all about
the insurance, isn’t it? His reply: “Of course it is!” I then asked
what about members with other medical conditions and he said “I’m not
getting into other issues, you asked me to reply about the RCU post,
and I did”. At that point I thanked him for his help and hung up.


The reason I got involved is this; I really feel sorry for this guy.
He had no due process, as the BOD acted on their own and AMA approved
their actions. Evidently, there are no medical exclusions in the
insurance policy or AMA’s policies to support their actions, so I
don’t understand how the BOD could take unilateral action and AMA
agree. At best, this is a local club issue that AMA should NOT want to
get involved with. I also don’t understand how Carl can reject the
information from this member’s doctor. With all due respect to the BOD
and Carl, IMHO, when unqualified people start making medical judgments
they’re just asking for trouble AMA has much deeper pockets than local
clubs, and if there were a lawsuit, AMA would bear the brunt of any
settlement, which is another reason for AMA to back away from this
issue. If local clubs and AMA want to get involved with medical
issues, then they should know they’re heading down a long, steep,
slippery path.


I would appreciate it if you would review this matter with the proper
officials before an incident like this happens again. The average age
of the membership is 58, and lots of us have various medical
conditions, including any number of members with the same condition as
this member. IMHO, unless something is done quickly, this thing will
turn into a monster.

Very truly yours,

Jon Van Skiver

AMA 79669


Dear Mr. Van Skiver:

As promised, I have discussed this matter with Mr. Maroney and reviewed
the limited information available to us.

The direct answer to your question is that AMA has no specific policy
with respect to medical incapacitation, nor does our insurance policy
contain any language that would prohibit the operation of a model
aircraft with a known medical condition. You are also correct in your
statement that this is a local club issue.

Although we were not privy to all the communications between the club
and its member, we do believe the request for some type of assurance
from a medical professional was reasonable and prudent. That said, any
interpretation of the results must be handled with great care. Both
parties clearly have a responsibility to consider the facts and base
any final decision on sound medical reasoning.

I hope this information is helpful.

Don Koranda
Executive Director