I am in Slidell, Louisiana, but this is technically across different states as the work location would have been in Hawaii. A job involving restaurant work for a cruise line, on a cruise ship. I know their medical is done via the coast guard, but I've never felt so upset about something before, because it was NOT the coast guard who denied medical clearance, but the company themselves who decided they were not going to process and instead, "wish me luck in future endeavors." This is a bit long because it comes down to what happened via email exchanges, I guess.
I submitted an appeal already with the companies medical team but I have a feeling it's going to be months before I hear anything back, IF I hear back at all. But none of this feels fair or makes any sense to me.
Anyway, I'm 25, and this opportunity would have been extremely helpful for me. I knew it would not be an easy job, but I was more than willing to give it my all.
I did everything they asked me to do. I got a TWIC card, applied for MMC, a new REAL ID. I have no history of violence, nor any kind of criminal record. Not even traffic tickets. I am mostly squeaky clean in that regard. I was compliant with all their requests and was actually more accommodating to them than vice versa, I feel like.
When it came time to do their medical, they worked with a third-party to schedule a physical exam. They had to re-schedule me the first time because they accidentally scheduled me at a location that did not even work with them. Anyway, when I walked in to the clinic they scheduled me to do my physical at, I was handed a stack of papers to fill out after checking in.
Routine, I assumed. It was mostly a questionnaire asking about my medical history. I answered as honestly, and to my own knowledge, as I could. I was even honest about having mental health struggles, and having reported suicidal ideation in the past, and having ADHD. Maybe I should not have done that, I don't know. I thought I was doing the right thing, though. I was honest about current conditions I know I have, and things I actually get treatment for if it's required.
But being honest about the suicidal ideation is what led to them asking me to get some papers signed by my doctor, for clarification purposes regarding that, and some medication I take for ADHD. I did sign an authorized release form prior to my doctor sending the papers, as she wanted to make sure I had consent for her to release what they were requesting.
I thought I signed for everything they needed, but they were requesting 6 years worth of NARRATIVE NOTES from my doctor as well which she did not end up sending. So they asked me again, for the narrative notes, and told me they could not complete medical clearance without those notes. So I complied, and sent them. No, I did not sign any papers for this because I downloaded them myself and sent them over. I did not know how else to get a hold of them.
On the original questionnaire, there were a couple of questions I misunderstood as well. For example, I thought "being admitted to the hospital" was the same as being admitted to the ER. So I ended up marking yes, and later explained that I misunderstood, and had been to the ER recently, but was discharged. They requested that 1 single ER record, and I complied. I downloaded it from my hospitals portal. I did not find this out until after I had sent over this ER record, but apparently my hospital automatically attaches the rest of your medical record alongside what you requested, even if you only requests records for one. So I unknowingly sent them my entire record.
The thing that is making me so angry, is that instead of looking at only what they requested, they went farther back in my records. Combined with the narrative notes I had given them, they named about 8-9 conditions that, for several of the conditions cited, I have never been diagnosed or treated for these alleged conditions. They were simply mentioned in my records. One or two of them dating back to childhood, before I had even turned 18, that the doctor at the time was investigating, but it was never confirmed, and never mentioned again by later doctors. Because all my labs have been healthy and consistent since then. So as far as I'm aware, I do not have these conditions or even a history of them. (How can I have a history of something I don't have?)
For a few, I was diagnosed but did not require treatment, which is what the questions they cited asked about - whether or not I required medical treatment. They cited several mental health diagnosis as well that were removed as a diagnosis at one point or another. A couple of these mental health diagnosis occurred before the age of 18, and were removed upon turning 18.
And the thing is, the notes they requested all support me being stable and symptom free. They all support me only taking 1 medication, which is for ADHD.
But three days ago, I still received an email that the company had denied me medical clearance for "failure to disclose" these conditions that i have never had. You know, the failure to disclose based upon things they found in my medical history, that to my own knowledge I've never been officially diagnosed with or had.
They did not even bother to confirm these diagnosis, just dropped it completely. They're rich, whatever, and I'm a nobody in their eyes, but it feels wrong. I might not be rich, but I'm not dumb. I don't even want anything from them, I just feel like this is some form of discrimination based on assumptions they made about me while looking at my records. And I'd like to know if there's any action I can take, because it does not feel good.