Job Discussion Forums

[Miles Smiles]

Not performing the tests then noting "not indicated" is not only unethical, it could be considered illegal depending upon the situation and jurisdiction.

No doctor can look at a patient and know for certain if a condition exists or doesn't exist unless he performs a test. Hepatitis, AIDS, HIV and a host of other ailments can be detected ONLY through testing and the known infection of one person by another who knows that he he is a communicable carrier.

Because a person exhibits no outward signs of a disease that is detectable only by test is hardly reason to check "not indicated" on a health survey. If your doctor thinks that doing so is ethical behavior, I think you should change doctors.

[steve b]

And precisely where does "not indicated" give the impression that someone categorically does not have a condition/ailment rather than the true meaning, which is that the doctor is stating he does not believe the patient suffers and that a test is in his/her opinion unnecessary?

Unethical/illegal would only relate to a doctor who asserted a patient was disease-free without carrying out thorough tests.

[Miles Smiles]

[steve b]

I asserted no such thing but clearly with your method of interpretation I probably also stated that the earth was flat.

Patently you either advocate paying through the nose for something which in all probability you will undergo again on arrival or perhaps you had reason to believe that possibly you had contracted one of the specified diseases. I had no such fear and indeed flew through the more thorough tests once I arrived.

But then I used an experienced agent who advised me of all this beforehand, it cost pennies for my extremely good physician (who incidentally spent time a few years ago in Nanning studying Chinese methods) to complete the form ethically and legally due to his years of knowledge of my well-being and thus enabling me to be granted a visa.

If others wish to follow your lead and expend unnecessary monies then it begs the question as to who in fact is the dunce.

[Miles Smiles]

Good luck and good health to you.

[bluetortilla]

I have hep c antibodies (liver function totally normal). Probably got it from a tattoo (ah, youth...). So am I gonna be tested for it and denied a visa when I arrive? I didn't show up on the medical here (guess they were just testing for b). Plan B- Vietnam?

[Miles Smiles]

If your medical clinic is enlightened, the examiners will know that the presence of antibodies does NOT indicate that you are a carrier. It merely means that you have been EXPOSED to the disease.

A guy with whom I worked got test results that showed antibodies for one of the hepatitis types. He was given some sort of medication that would "fix" it. The FAO didn't make a big deal about it. The FT never took the pills because research showed that the supposed medication did nothing for the presence of antibodies. He was also supposed to return for testing in a month. He didn't do that either. The clinic never followed up on it, and the FAO never mentioned it.

YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

[bluetortilla]