Opinion ID: 800991
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: MEB Termination

Text: A MEB is convened to document a Soldier's medical status and duty limitations insofar as duty is affected by the Soldier's status; and it appears that the MEB, alone, is charged with the duty of making a decision as to the Soldier's medical qualification for retention once a case is submitted to it. Army Reg. 635-40 ¶ 4-10. And, as noted above, the applicable regulations indicate that the actions of examination and potential referral to a MEB, see id. ¶ 4-9, are separate from a MEB evaluation and decision, see id. ¶ 4-10. In other words, the medical examination performed by an attending physician, which may or may not lead to a referral to the MEB, is distinct from a MEB evaluation. The termination of Coburn's MEB as it happened in this case is unfathomable. First, the initiating physician was Dr. Caycedo, and the terminating physician was Dr. Caycedo, acting with the approval of Dr. Schirner. However, there is no indication in the regulations that the referring physician can also serve as one of the physician members of the MEB, and neither party asserts that either Dr. Caycedo or Dr. Schirner served as one of the physicians on the MEB. Second, we can discern nothing in the regulations to indicate how these two physicians (who were not members of a MEB) could terminate Coburn's case once it had been submitted to the MEB process. And, finally, the Secretary's argument that medical information in the record justified the termination of Coburn's MEB process is perplexing, because no final decision had been issued by a MEB.