Crohns and Military Service

[davinci1]

Hello
I am currently married to an HPSP scholar and it has been suggested by physicians that my husband has crohns disease. My question is how would that effect his scholarship and military service. He comes from a military family and is very passionate about military service.
Thanks

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[orbitsurgMD]

Hello
I am currently married to an HPSP scholar and it has been suggested by physicians that my husband has crohns disease. My question is how would that effect his scholarship and military service. He comes from a military family and is very passionate about military service.
Thanks

Have those doctors actually established a diagnosis or is this speculation? If the diagnosis is established, he should be evaluated at a military clinic. Ordinarily this diagnosis is NPQ.

 

[davinci1]

Right now its purely speculation. Im sorry what is NPQ?

 

[NavyFP]

Right now its purely speculation. Im sorry what is NPQ?

Not Physically Qualified.

If he does indeed have Crohn's, he will probably be given a medical discharge.

 

[Ex-44E3A]

Crohns is no fun... definitely not on the top ten diseases-to-have list.

Navy FP is right; they will probably board him out if the diagnosis is confirmed.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Even a doc? Perhaps they'll just give him a non-deployable profile.

At any rate, have someone shove a camera up there and take some biopsies, then go see a military doc and find out. What else are you going to do?

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Even a doc? Perhaps they'll just give him a non-deployable profile.

At any rate, have someone shove a camera up there and take some biopsies, then go see a military doc and find out. What else are you going to do?

Yeah, even a doc.

 

[Traveler22]

If someone wants to be an enlisted Marine but was diagnosed with Hodgkins and has undergone chemo and is in remission, is that be acceptable? Or would that disqualify him? Thanks.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

If someone wants to be an enlisted Marine but was diagnosed with Hodgkins and has undergone chemo and is in remission, is that be acceptable? Or would that disqualify him? Thanks.

That is NPQ, no waiver recommended.

 

[a1qwerty55]

For the Army, check the reg 40-501 - it is a pdf, easily searchable.

Looks like both Hodgkin's and Crohn's are disqualifiers for entry, if you developed them on active duty and the conditions are controlled, in the case of the lymphoma in remission, then likey each servicemember would be found fit for duty. I've seen Infantry soldiers with Crohn's deploy to Iraq, same for soldiers with lymphoma in remission.

below is the link to AR 40-501

http://www.usapa.army.mil/pdffiles/r40_501.pdf

 

[Ex-44E3A]

They tried to send an AF troop out to Saudi (where I was stationed) with Crohns... on 40mg of Prednisone a day.

Needless to say, we declined to accept him at our location, considering that our "hospital" was a trailer.

But they did all sorts of other foolishness... like sending a severe eczema patient (who had previously been on systemic steroids for as long as a year). His GMO PCM gave him a whopping supply of topical class-1 steroids, and sent him to the desert (eczema sufferers can get almost uncontrollable in arid environments)... and by the time I saw him for his Temovate "refill," he'd been on it daily for months. His skin was a wreck; stria, vascular changes, shiny thin skin... It wasn't pretty...

I sent his PCM a very pointed email about it... never heard back.

Some people spend way more time thinking about whether they can, and not nearly enough time thinking about whether they should.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

They tried to send an AF troop out to Saudi (where I was stationed) with Crohns... on 40mg of Prednisone a day.

Needless to say, we declined to accept him at our location, considering that our "hospital" was a trailer.

But they did all sorts of other foolishness... like sending a severe eczema patient (who had previously been on systemic steroids for as long as a year). His GMO PCM gave him a whopping supply of topical class-1 steroids, and sent him to the desert (eczema sufferers can get almost uncontrollable in arid environments)... and by the time I saw him for his Temovate "refill," he'd been on it daily for months. His skin was a wreck; stria, vascular changes, shiny thin skin... It wasn't pretty...

I sent his PCM a very pointed email about it... never heard back.

Some people spend way more time thinking about whether they can, and not nearly enough time thinking about whether they should.

Agree. I have seen people with unstable angina and thoroughly-documented coronary artery disease status-post CABG sent on a ship to the Gulf for extended deployment. And that from a major West Coast medical center.

 

[Ex-44E3A]

One of the worst was when I saw the Army deploy a guy to Saudi Arabia, status post lumbar fusion, with steri-strips still on the wound. They told him he could do his PT/rehab out in the desert (Note: we had no facilities or people able to instruct or assist in PT)

Needless to say, he was absolutely worthless to his unit. Couldn't lift anything, lots of pain, couldn't do his job... absolutely asinine medical decision by somebody in CONUS.

 

[VolatileNavyDoc]

Some people spend way more time thinking about whether they can, and not nearly enough time thinking about whether they should.

These guys can be scary when they show up, as your examples have shown. You really can get deployed with almost any ailment.

 

[a1qwerty55]

I've seen the medical establishment really work the system....

Infantry soldier deploys with a equal to or more serious condition that an doc, yet the doc stays at home....

Home cooking anyone..

Try the "I can't wear a kevlar b/c I have cervical DJD" trick, it has worked for a fair number of yellow surgeons.

 

[Out in 2008]

Hello
I am currently married to an HPSP scholar and it has been suggested by physicians that my husband has crohns disease. My question is how would that effect his scholarship and military service. He comes from a military family and is very passionate about military service.
Thanks

Your husband should contact the HPSP admin folks ASAP regardless of the diagnosis he ulitmately has. He will need a medical board evaluation if he is diagnosed with Crohns. The medical board process reviews all the medical info and determines suitablity for active duty and can allow continued active service with restrictions on duty if needed. If your husband is medically disqualified, you'll want to find out as soon as possible so he can make plans for a civilian career. I was found NPQ my 4th year of med school (for high BP!) it was a major headache in applying for residencies, etc. Navy ultimately found me physically qualified one week after I matched into a civilian ER program.

I don't think Crohn's will necessarily kill your husbands military aspirations if it is well controlled. I recently treated a Navy Submarine Officer who has a waiver for Crohns.