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My father’s doctor at the VA gave my father an eye exam. He has been into the eye doctor frequently because of severe macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. My father asked his eye doctor after his appointment to sign the paperwork from the DMV that says his eyesight is good enough to renew his driver’s license. Doctor said no. My father then went to Costco where they gave him an eye exam and signed his paper, extending his license for 4 more years. He was almost 89 when this happened, and a very scary driver. I had been trying for over a year to get his car and keys away from him. I got him a very nice scooter, and made myself available for trips to the store and errands. He told me he would call the police and an attorney, if I messed with his car. Why is Costco able to do this? I took my father to the VA for a consultation, where they would test his reaction times, his ability to recognize street signs, et cetera. He did very poorly. I’m so mad at Costco. My dad could have killed someone.

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Important topic.

I am extremely nearsighted.
I easily pass the optometrist exam. At the DMV however,
I was passed but my side vision barely passed cause of my
thick thick glasses. In real life the eye dr. said to turn my head to see to the side.
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Well it is several years later, so most our suggestions will be of no use to you.

You should have reported the Optometrist to his licensing board for failure to perform a thorough examination.
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This post is from February. Many old posts are showing up today, and I'm not certain why. It is an interesting subject, and we are free to comment on any old posts, but often for this individual the situation is now handled.
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ChoppedLiver Jul 2022
Thanks, I’ll be more watchful. I usually just look at the date of the previous post.
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In my state, a person can present a signed document stating their eyesight meets the minimum, 20/40 vision and peripheral vision of 70 degrees or better in ONE eye and that exempts them from taking the eye test at renewal. They can still get their license assuming that they don’t have citations on their driving record.

I would suggest you call the police department in your father’s city and see what they suggest. You should not have to wait until he harms himself or someone else to remove his license.
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OOMEZOOME Jul 2022
My dad has had 6 DUI’s. With that record, there should be mandatory reporting, regardless of eye test by optometrist. This is where the law needs to be changed. My dad does not know when to stop. The rules don’t apply to him, ever.
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Did your dad FAIL his DMV eye test? Here, you have two options to renew your license. The ever popular online option - which has a number of restrictions- and even more for seniors and can only be done every other time. That requires no eye test. And the other is of course in person - which requires that you pass THEIR eye test or you don't get a license renewal. PERIOD. (until you see an eye doctor and come back with corrected vision) - is this where the VA and the Costco eye doctors came in? Because no doctor can extend his license, only the DMV can do that. The doctor can advise as to whether his eye sight is ok, but I would still think he would have to pass the DMV tests and show them he is safe to drive. And if he failed his eye test, when he came back with corrected vision here he would have to take a driving test to get his license renewed.

In addition, it is my understanding that if you do not meet certain criteria, doctors are actually supposed to report it to the DMV medical board in my state. Recently my FIL was declared legally blind by his eye doctor - meaning they can no longer correct his vision with glasses to the required level to drive (or pass the eye test at the DMV). When the doctor told him this the first words out of his mouth were "Please don't report that to the DMV." Her response back to him was "I don't have a choice, I'm required to report it." Now I don't know if she told him that to add to what we were already doing or because she is actually a mandated reporter because he hasn't received anything requiring him to surrender his license and he doesn't actually have to attempt to renew it until early next year - but she knew that we were not allowing him to drive and that he can't get to the car keys himself so anything is possible.

In many states you could submit an anonymous report that he is an unsafe driver and force an in person driving and eye test, you could ask the VA doctor to submit a report to the State DMV medical board for review. You could take away the keys yourself or disable the vehicle. It doesn't sound like your father is very open to the discussion of not driving. So it sounds like you or the doctor are going to have to be the ones that make this decision if you can't get a hard no from the DMV.
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Because Costco optometrists didn't exactly graduate at the top of their class.
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MJ1929 Jun 2022
My bad -- I didn't see that I'd already answered this back in February. I see I gave the same response then, too.
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The only reason I can imagine that dad didn't have to go to the DMV to renew his license is because this all happened during covid shutdowns.

My mom was mailed a form that her eye doctor had to fill out. The results are what they are. That's all that was requested, can she see with corrective lenses or not.

Costco nor the eye doctor did anything wrong. Your dad had an eye exam and I guarantee that the doctor knew what was going on and dad passed the eye exam.

You can go to war over this but, you are not going to win. The VA doctors weren't even in agreement with your stance or they would have signed off on the POA requirements.

Your dad's personality is what put him at risk to be victimized. My dad was the same way, flashing money and running his mouth. Use to scare me for him.

You are going to have a stroke if you don't let things go. Three years is to long to still be upset about a perceived wrong.
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The doctor at the VA felt responsible for the wellbeing of his patient and refused to approve his continuing driving. The optometrist was only responsible for a pair of glasses and didn't care much for your father's welfare.
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In revisiting this post, and skimming through the responses and suggestions below, I have to ask: is your father telling you that Costco "signed the paperwork"? Or did you go with him and saw it yourself?

If he's just telling you this, I think he's selling you some BS to get you off the trail. The DMV has their own eye test protocol and I'm not sure "paperwork" from another source will cut it for them. Even if it does, then why don't you ask the VA to send their results to his DMV? I didn't see what state you are in, but you can search or call your father's home state DMV and ask what the actual requirement is for someone his age.
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OOMEZOOME Jun 2022
I went to the optometrist at Costco and got his records. The doctor gave me the records and, yes, he signed the DMV paperwork. I will be going back to speak with him In person, now that I have the records in my hand.
It states in the record that he signed my dad’s DMV paperwork. The records show that the doctor knew nothing of my father’s medical conditions. The doctor also states that my father needs to be re-evaluated bi-annually. If the optometrist is not a medical doctor, I’m confused why he can sign DMV paperwork for my very old dad and then have the right to restrict to bi-annual evaluation. If he felt that my father needs to be re-evaluated every 6 months, he certainly should have said “no signature.” Something is not right. I am going to write letters to the appropriate people to get this changed. I am also going to speak to the doctor at Costco personally and tell him the ramifications of his decision. I have video and photos of my dad’s appt at the VA, so he can see how abysmal my father did on the eye exam and driver evaluation. This doc was wrong and there needs to be a law. The law should mandate that any MD who declines signature for renewal of license needs to complete a DMV form (by law) that states they have declined signature based on medical expertise.
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I think it's a safe assumption that the DMV in most states operates pretty similarly. Here in CA no Dr can determine or adjudicate someone's fitness to drive, or by way of their opinion or signature on any form, cause to have produced a driver's license for someone. They're not decision-makers or even advisors to the DMV. They function only to report objective measurements on medical tests which the DMV has set points for and customizes its decision based upon.

The form the DMV gave your dad to have his Dr sign lists a battery of tests that only a Dr has the expertise to administer, the results of which are numerical or otherwise of some objective scale; the Dr just records the results under penalty of perjury. The doctor does signs the paperwork whether or not the patient did good or bad. DMV considers the test results individually and in aggregate to customize a decision to issue, restrict, or revoke. It does have some hard minimums and it couldn't care less, and gives no opportunity for the doctor's determination of someone's ability to drive. It is only depending upon the doctor for the doctor's expertise in performing the vision tests.

If your father performed so poorly on the tests for the VA doctor, then the question is, why didn't he sign the form and enter onto it the results of those tests? Which presumably, are below the minimum set by your state's DMV?

Unless they WEREN'T below the minimums. I'm purely speculating here, but perhaps the VA doctor, actually knowing your father, has chosen not to cooperate by signing the form, because he believes your father is unfit to drive based on factors other than just purely visual fitness, yet he met the minimums of the tests. Or maybe the VA has policies against Dr.s signing such a form.

In any event, the Costco doctor of optometry doesn't know your dad, and even if he did, his opinion doesn't matter. Just the test results. I do know that the docs at Costco don't work for and aren't supervised by Costco. They're independent contractors. We don't know if your dad passed or failed the minimums when the VA tested, because the doc there refused to record and certify them on the form.

What can be known is that recording false patient test results, on any medium is probably grounds for any kind of doctor to lose their license. And recording them falsely on a state form under penalty of perjury is probably a misdemeanor / felony wobbler. And there's no lack of patients / business in this country for any doctor of any kind of healthcare, so it would be a stretch to imagine the Costco doc falsified the results of the tests on that form just to make a $60 exam fee, even if your dad offered to slip him another fast $50, $100, or even $1000.

I don't doubt you when you say your dad shouldn't be driving. I can easily, fully believe that. You know the man, and I can safely assume you've been in the car with him. There's a real big "?" as to why the VA doc wouldn't sign the form. Your message leaves me assuming he also believes your dad shouldn't be driving. So if your dad passed all the tests on the form, the only role in that context the doctor has to keep him from getting a license is to refuse to participate with the form - and he's under no obligation to do so.

The Costco optometrist doesn't know your dad, so he can't be faulted for not considering extra-optometric factors that effect your dad's driving, or even know them in order to bring him to a personal moral dilemma that would cause him to consider withdrawing his participation with the form; he certainly can't be faulted for certifying true test results on it.

So the fault would lie in the laws and regulations of your state for not mandating the needed vision (or otherwise) tests, if they exist, for your dad to fail.  He does sound like a bit of a prick and not at all easy to deal with - and you, a very good son or daughter, and person, for none the less doing so.
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OOMEZOOME Jul 2022
Thank you. Your assessment of this situation is right on! The law needs to change. If a doctor refuses to sign the form and participate, then they should be required to put that in writing and send it to the DMV. It would have saved our family much heartbreak. I will be following up with our Congresswoman, Maria Cantwell. Another law that needs to be implemented is a registry of felony identity thieves. Our area has care homes all over, and there has been an influx of identity thieves. They know where to find the elderly, but the elderly don’t know where they are “holed up.” Caregivers and the elderly would benefit from a registry with photos and addresses of these predators.
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One would think that the Costco eye doc and Costco could be held legally responsible if your father gets in a car accident...
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Report your dad anonymously on the DMV website for his state. Make your case as to why he is a danger on the road. Most likely they will send a snail-mail letter informing him to come in to have his eyesight checked, which you know he will fail. Then good-bye license. You will already have tattled on him at that website that he has severe macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, and his regular eye doctor would not sign the paperwork clearing him to drive with his current vision. It doesn't cost anything to report him and even if it fails to stop him then you've done all you can, other than reporting him every time he gets into his car (if he has a revoked license).

I would also take the first doctor's medical report and wave it in the face of the Optometrist at Costco and send a letter to their admin. Then there's the good ole' Nextdoor.com forum where you can start an "awareness" rant about the eye dept at Costco to warn others of this dangerous practice.
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BarbBrooklyn Feb 2022
I have to say that I've found our Costco Optometrists to be good.

Two separate Costco opto folks caught issues that DH and I had (several years apart). I have a nevus in the back of my eye that needs to be watched for development; DH had symptoms of narrow angle glaucoma that are worrisome. Each person sent us away with a stern directive to find a qualified Ophthalmologist right away.

I would certainly contact Costco Corporate. In my experience, they are very responsive, although it's not like they KNEW about the previous testing.
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Costco is good for a couple things: Toilet paper and their fabulous roast chicken.

As for MEDICAL CARE.....no, no and NO. The pharmacy is fine, as it is actually not a Costco entity.

Yep, Costco is responsible. I doubt they get paid as much per patient if they refuse to pass the eye exam.

YES--go to the news with this. I cannot imagine you are the only person dealing with this same situation. IF your dad causes an accident, it could conceivably come down on COstco as they overrode an Opthomolgist's opinion and it looks shady that dad then went to COstco to do just that.

For people with younger, healthier eyes, a Costco checkup would probably be fine. We get older and stuff starts to happen with our eyes and we need to take that very seriously. Optomestrists are great--(My BIL is one) but they can only prescribe a very limited type of drug--not even sure they can handle Macular degeneration.

Good luck--I know this was a few years back, but you post a good warning.
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If you are concerned about your father's driving, and his regular doctor at the VA is opposed to him driving, you can anonymously report your father to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The DMV allows people to report unsafe drivers, often anonymously (check your state requirements). You don't have to be a doctor. Anyone can file a report. The report is confidential and begins a process whereby the state gathers information to determine the driver's qualifications. You could even include a letter from his VA doctor or include his/her name and contact information in your submission. The benefit is that your father won't blame you for taking his license away. I had to do this with my own father. It was heartbreaking but necessary.
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OOMEZOOME Feb 2022
Thank you. I am aware of this, and that’s why I continued to bring him to the Opthamologist at the VA. They are the experts. I asked them to help me. Nothing. I went so far as to take my father’s keys, and he yelled and screamed. I disabled the car, and he hired a homeless mechanic to fix it, who then was scamming him for money. My father is a tremendously difficult man. He is a pathological narcissist (has been cruel, dismissive and combative his entire life). He always makes poor decisions. After he got his driver’s license renewed, he drove to Fred Meyer and 2 criminals followed him home and robbed him. Had he not been able to drive, he would have been safer all around. Costco needs to understand that they do not have a medical history available; otherwise, they would have seen that my father had medical issues like uncontrolled diabetes, macular degeneration, alcohol use disorder, depression, neurocognitive issues, and general old age issues that prevented him from being safe on the roads. He was obviously — looking back — at the beginning of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. I’m still very frustrated and going to get my father’s medical records from Costco, today. I want answers.
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I am uncertain why you are asking this question of us, and not of Costco. If he just had a simple optometry test to see how his vision was, and he passed that at Costco, I would not know how to argue that. Did they give him the paper that says what his vision is? Have you taken Dad to the DMV yourself to ask what to do about his vision and have him tested on the spot? Are you your Father's POA? If you ARE and you have a letter from his eye doctor saying he is unsafe to drive, then you can take that to the DMV office on your own.
I would go to Costco to check this out with manager, and with a copy of the materials you got from your Dad's doctor.
Is your Father suffering from dementia at all? Have you spoken to him.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do, and just three years ago on this very day my brother had a serious accident in which he injured himself badly and was in the arms of his neighbor saying "I knew something was wrong; I knew something was wrong". For him it represented a long, slow, sad 2 1/2 years until his death (not from the accident itself).
Sorry you are going through all this. If Dad has no dementia and you have no POA to act for him when he is unsafe to act for himself, this may be something there is no answer to.
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BarbBrooklyn Feb 2022
This happened 3 years ago, Alva.
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The guy at Costco is an Optometrist, not a Retinologist or Ophthalmologist and probably had limited experience with macular degeneration. IMO, the Costco/Walmart/Sam's Club eye docs didn't exactly graduate at the top of their class, and their main goal is to sell you something in order to get you to come back. They aren't interested in patient care as much as running through as many people as possible. Same goes for their hearing aid people.
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OOMEZOOME Feb 2022
Then they need to be sued for negligence. I am working on that now. I am going to call our local news agency with the story.
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Just my opinion. Is the VA doctor an Ophthalmologist? This is an MD and I would say knows lots more than an Optometrist who is not an MD. They are trained in the eye but with your Dads problems I would think he should be dealing with the MD.

To be honest, I would not trust Costco.
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I was getting concerned that you had TWO elders you were caring for!
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OOMEZOOME Feb 2022
No. I have one elder. I have been going back through the thought process of how he was able to get in a horrible situation where criminals followed him
home, convinced him to get in their car and go out to lunch with them and then during the outing Steal his credit cards. Then they took him home and he got bills for credit card purchases he did not make, and I got to clean up the mess. Costco is to blame. Had he not been able to drive, he would have been safe at home.
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Did this happen in the past? Your recent post has dad at 92. Is your dad still driving?

I see he was pooping on the deck last month and could hardly walk on another post. So I am thinking you are remembering some of his past antics.

I sure hope you have some help with him and are taking care of yourself.
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OOMEZOOME Feb 2022
Yes. It happened 3 years ago. It has been bothering me for quite some time. It was after Costco signed his DMV paper that my father drove to his local grocery store and criminals followed him home. I am still upset about it. Thanks.
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Oome, in October, you wrote this:
"This is the first year — and probably my dad’s last Christmas. He’s 92 now with vascular/Alzheimer’s — I have chosen family over my elderly father, who doesn’t appreciate anything I do for him. He’s a bully and a pathological narcissistic. I think he also has borderline personality disorder. In years past, I have always made beautiful dinners and Christmas parties for my family. Thanksgiving, Easter, et cetera, too. I pick my father up and he enjoys a wonderful meal on each holiday. He goes back home and gets in trouble and my whole family suffers. He’s always been this way. It’s an odd situation. I know he’s had a lifetime of undiagnosed mental illness. We grew up in a house where he drank, raged, bullied and criticized. I’m going to Hawaii this year and putting him in a memory care facility (respite care) for 30 days guilt free. Hoping he doesn’t bolt, as he can’t smoke there."

Is he 89 or 92? Does he have dementia?
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OOMEZOOME Feb 2022
My father is 92, now. Costco incident happened 3 years ago. I am still frustrated by what they did. My father does have vascular/Alzheimer’s now.
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Good, if dad calls the police, let him. So what. Then you can explain to the police why you disabled the car. Beat him to the punch, stop feeling guilty, make the call and report him and Costco. Call executive offices of Costco. Many lives other than dad's depend on you having the courage to do the right thing.

Did you ask the VA to report your dad to DMV?
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Did the VA doctor report your father to the DMV?

Depending on your state, you may be able to send a request to the DMV to have your father's license reviewed in light of his medical conditions.

Have you spoken to your local police department?

Are you your dad's power of attorney for health and/or finances? If you have POA for health, I would take the results of his VA eye exam to Costco and ask that they revoke the previous approval.

I would also disable the car, consequences be damned.
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