FMCSA Modernizes Medical Forms

October 19, 2000 9:15 AM, EDT

Trucking’s fight to simplify the medical examination form and rid the health history section of such terms as “fits, syphilis and gonorrhea and nervous stomach” has scored a victory.

The new form will not contain references to these medical conditions, said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Advocates of reforming the 30-year-old, one-page form have long said those conditions have nothing to do with one’s ability to drive (11-9, p. 3).

American Trucking Associations and several other groups were opposed to including more space on the new medical examination forms to record results from optional heart monitoring tests known as the electrocardiogram and exercise stress tests.

FMCSA sided with those objections and said doctors should record they consider necessary to assess a driver’s physical qualification.

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