Going to the Dr.

[TGC]

I don't know if any of you have an answer or idea of this but, I'm Army reserves and was wondering how much access to medical records the Army will have if I go to the Dr.
I would hate to go then have the Army consider me broken or anything negative. Thanks guys.
Does being on Tricare make a difference?

[wildman536]

I think the military has access no matter what. You are a Govt owned person and they are interested in protecting there investment.

[TGC]

I thought about that, but does it mean there is a high probability of them actually looking?

[wildman536]

I thought about that, but does it mean there is a high probability of them actually looking?

I would have to err on the side that they could/would look into your personal file at any time. (i frankly do not know much about how they would or when)

[StupidManSuit]

Let me preface this by saying that I was active USMC, so this is the experience I'm coming in with. I am pretty sure it's going to be the same across the board, though I did want to get that out of the way.

You decide to see a civilian doctor. One of two things happens.

1. You give them your Tricare health insurance. They see that you are the member who is entitled to the insurance (aka, you're not a dependent). After the visit, the doctor faxes a copy to the Army base's hospital. You are usually given (or at least offered) a copy for your personal records. It is up to you to ensure that the visit is documented in your medical record. For example, when I would see a civilian doctor, they faxed my stuff over to the Naval hospital (Marines use Navy docs), but I had to go down to the Battalion Aid Station to ensure that it actually got in there. Shit always was faxed and never seemed to be received. Unlike you, I wanted this stuff documented, so I found out that I had to put in my own copies into my medical record.

2. You decide that you don't want to risk your command finding out that you're potentially unfit for duty, so you choose to foot the bill yourself instead of using Tricare. You then go to your doctor and find out that something bad is going on in your body, but you choose to withhold this information from your command. We had this happen a few times even with guys that saw battalion doctors; they'd just take their light duty chit and tear it up because they didn't want to be removed from duty. The problem with this is that your "small" medical problem is almost certainly going to get worse during your military service, and when that happens, you're fucked. Let's say you go to see a doctor and you have, say, plantar fasciitis (an issue with your foot). You say, "It's just my foot, no big deal" and you move along. As you can guess, your foot will fuck everything else up along the way. A simple foot injury is actually how I became disabled and consequently discharged. My disability is two-fold and permanent, and I'm only 25 years old. I am fucked for life. The problem is that the Marine Corps chose to keep pushing and the docs supported this, and that's how I ended up getting fucked for life, but also covered with disability. If you hide a problem from the military and end up having it bite you in the ass, you're liable to not get anything if they dredge up some medical information. If I were a betting woman, I'd say they wouldn't do it and just hand you disability and a farewell, but if they do, then not only are you discharged without disability, but you're going to need disability. So not only was your service cut short, but now you're fucked up. My medical degradation is well-documented in my medical record, of which I have at least two copies, and that's what helped me get disability (the Marine Corps just wanted to discharge me, like they do everyone else, without a medical evaluation board, without my Honorable Discharge, and I was even denied legal advice...no one knows why they do this, but it's very common in the USMC to just kick you out without anything). Otherwise, I'd be out and fighting for help because my shit is a struggle.

Because my daily life is fucking horrible and it's an effort to get out of bed and I sometimes wonder why I even try, I'm going to tell you that it's better to ask for a desk job than to "man up" and end up fucking yourself for life. I didn't have that option and the docs led me to believe that the problem would fix itself. You, on the other hand, seem to have the option and you're wishing to hide it. That's up to you, and I'm not going to tell you what to do or judge you for whatever you choose to do, but I will tell you that when you're in a position like I was just today sitting in a parking lot and staring at all your pills and opening a bottle and having to ask yourself out loud, "What's stopping you from taking these? What's stopping you from killing yourself right now?" well, brother, you don't want to be there.

[DCSpartan]

I'm in the reserves as well. Active duty guys wont know. When it comes time for your annual physical, if I have any issues or medicine Im still taking Ill let them know then and there.

What you DONT want to do, is have some issue, get mobilized, dont tell them about it, and when you are overseas have it pop up and they find out you didnt tell them.