As a starter of this thread I am very interested to read everyone's comments and fears regarding this problem with my health record , it is exactly the same type of comments that I was exposed to by people at the airport last weekend and the reason for starting this thread.
One of the guys from the airport is also on this discussion group and he called me about 30 minutes ago with some comments but didn't want to be identified, he has asked me to relay his story below is a warning to everybody about what could happen with CASA getting access to your health records. (I hope I have detailed everything he wanted me to mention below but he would not put pen to paper and write anything to avoid leaving a digital record and that is why he has asked me to do it for him)
He has an RV, two seats which is VH registered and flies it as a recreational pilot during his early years of retirement, I am guessing he is about 65. He travels all around Australia and seems to be fairly fit and healthy to me from what I've seen.
He mentioned the situation where about three years ago his wife complained about his snoring so his doctor sent him off for a sleep study through Snore Australia. He went and did the sleep study and was reported that he had dozens of episodes every hour and needed to be on CPAP (I think that is what it is called) otherwise he would die in the next five years.
The study was done through a private provider who are owned the same business that imports the machines, cells oxygen and everything else to do with sleep problems. It's in their best interest to test people and find them needing additional resources which of course they can provide $$$
He said that he didn't believe any of this diagnosis and went off a couple of months later to a university sleep study who found that he only had a deviated septum from a fight in his youth where is nose got broken and he did not have any sleep episodes at all. This diagnosis was completely different to the private provider.
This is an ideal example of why the "my health record" system should not be accessible to CASA.
We have an individual who is fairly young, reasonably fit and only weighs, I am guessing about 65-70 kg which is really skinny for his six-foot frame.
He went and had a sleep study by a private provider and was diagnosed as being close to death and needed to start on all sorts of sleep equipment and oxygen support otherwise he would die fairly quickly from sleep-related problems including heart attack etc.
Then a university sleep study test was undertaken and they found that none of the reported events were true and he only needed an operation to straighten his nasal passage which he says he is not going to worry about because he doesn't sleep in the same room as his wife anymore anyway ?.
This leaves a very big question of misdiagnosis for commercial gain !
This gentleman was misdiagnosed by a private medical provider who has an interest in diagnosing people incorrectly because it boosts their business, but these records would go on to his health record and of course be available to people like CASA.
I don't know if CASA target people with sleep abnormalities, but I am guessing they probably do, and they would probably go off the first sleep study and stop this guy from flying even though the second sleep study by an independent university said that he didn't suffer a sleep disorder at all.
It is misdiagnosis like this which is a real concern for anyone's medical records being publicly available.
Not every medical provider has a strict moral standard to adhere to when they are owned, funded or receive kickbacks from medical suppliers or drug producers.
But, it seems now none of this will matter to CASA who will simply go on their merry way and stamp this pilots logbook as "not fit to fly"
Another comment that is coming back to me from the weekend at the airport was from a guy who lost his wife about five years ago. They had been married at the time for nearly 40 years and after his wife's passing he went into a depression for about six months and lost interest in doing anything. He quite openly said that he sought help because he had a feeling of not wanting to go on and they diagnosed him with depression and medicated him for about six months which allowed his body to heal and move on from this life changing event. He says that today he feels better than when he was married (he says this jokingly) but this record of depression and medication regardless of circumstance would go on his health record. Would this also prohibited him from being a valid person to hold a recreational aviation licence ?
I am sure a lot of these things can be retested to a standard which may satisfy CASA but it is extremely expensive and beyond the income and resources of most of the people at our airfield who are largely retired and do a few circuits every week to keep flying for nothing more than enjoyment and recreation.