Formerly Undisclosed Medical Issues

[jusforkicks]

I have a student that visited an AME a little over a year ago in order to obtain his third class medical so he could solo during private training. During the visit, he, for reasons I do not understand, decided to check "No" on previous medications. However, there was a past use of SSRI's, primarily Prozac and Paxil. I know the following facts:
1. He claims it was not a knowing, blatant disregard for the truth. He claims to have not thought about the past use as it was months prior and was a "non-issue" at that stage. Out of sight, out of mind was the mentality as the issue was "situational".
2. He has since been off of all medications for over a year and a half and has no anxiety issues to speak of.
3. From what I'm told, he is healthy in all ways - healthy weight, height, eyesight, hearing, professional, and dedicated. All round great student.
4. As he is looking to go into 121 or 135 work in the future, he is afraid that this past omission will come to light. I have been told by friends that go into regionals that they do not pull medical records, as this violates HIPAA.
Has anyone heard of records being pulled if the first class medical is issued without any provisions?

I'm at a loss of what to do here, both ethically and lawfully. While I do believe it could have been a careless omission, I know that the FAA would frown upon finding this omission later. Can his original application be modified, future applications be modified, or what is the recommended course of action for such a situation?
Thanks to any with suggestions-

[skydog]

Don't get involved with matters with which you have no expertise. You are a flight instructor, not an attorney or a doctor. As such, your advice is best when it is limited to matters of flight instruction. Advise your student to seek the council of an aviation medical examiner, an aviation attorney, or perhaps both.

[jusforkicks]

Skydog- Thank you for the input. I do agree with you in principle; however, as a newer flight instructor, I'm very curious how the FAA stands on such a matter. It truly isn't my place to advise my student in this matter, but I do wonder how he will fare with such an issue and what stance the FAA would take on this. Any other thoughts on this topic would still be appreciated, and thank you again for the input!
JFK

[My Flight Surgeon]

It depends on how long he took the medication and why. If it was for a short time for a situational depression, it will be no big deal - if it was for several years then they may want to see his records (he has to provide these to them) or have a psychiatric evaluation.

This is another example of people not thinking and not reading the form. There is not a block that asks about previous medications, it asks only for current medications. There is however a block that asks for a history of mental problems which includes depression.

My advice - he should seek out an AME who does a lot of medial exams; i.e., more than 200 a year, and is likely to be able to get a better history and give him some good advice.