Thread: The letter about a renewed FAL comes to his GP.

Originally Posted by Maca49

A doctor was asked to give his opinion of a patient mental health for FAL renewal. His reply was, he wasn’t qualified in that area and if they needed to know, they would be better asking a suitably qualified professional.
The problem they have is if they say your of sound mind and you prove to be otherwise by you actions, the police will put the buck/blame firmly on their shoulders.
It is wrong on so many fronts, they’ll be doing it with lawyers next

your GP is dead right ,and furthermore this is repetition on NZ police part as under pre existing health regulations they(and other named government depts) had specific power to enquire of any health professional information relating to a person with whom they were dealing .mind you the information had to be again specifically related to matter being enquired into.
I know because as a former registered psychiatric nurse (48yrs)I actually struck this on a couple of occasions -but i referred them to the treating clinician (psychiatrist who dealt with it )-lots of shagging about complying with privacy act and requirement for patients permission under code of rights .GPs are generally not pyschiatrist /psychologists whose forte is mental health ,so unless it is something you have mentioned in a conversation with them or rellies have expressed concerns directly then I see not basis for an opinion.I had this happen me late in my career when following an attempt to kill myself and a policeman by an irate client in her car I was placed off work on ACC(totally fucking hopeless).ACCwanted me to return to work wanting my locum GP to provide say so -he refused on grounds hes not qualified as psychologist/psychiatrist.they also asked for my EAP counseller( Psychologist) for her notes on my session s (bloody good )she told them no ,I hadnt given permission and she'd need payment up front for services rendered to them. Ireturned to work eventually after we came to a locum arrangement.
My last vetting for my license renewal the vetter a somewhat ignorant ex traffic cop made some idiotic comments re "nutters" in general and i had to get a GPs cert -I quickly sat him on his arse and got a very crestfallen apology.Ihave depression for 30yrs + but my GPs laughed like hell gave me 100% clearance as in the words on one youd know more about this K......so we should be asking you.I also had a similar experience as a refEree for GSPF when another vettor (a local yoga teacher)asked me about their health as per her POLICE questionnare .She was told in nouncertain terms i would not release such information without their permission as per law an furthmore it was high time Nz POLICE overthauled their paperwork and did some homework on such matters.my comments verbatim ended up written on the form with her comment apparently they were in throes of an overhaul!!!
GSPF thought it a real joke for that whole vetting w as again a fuckup due to the arrogance of certain policemen wanting me to travel 80kmfor a meeting in a public carpark!!!!!!!
actually in hindsight the copper involved did apologise for "inconveniencing' me!!