Loop recorder

[traingu]

My good friend has just had a ILR inserted. He is having trouble getting insurance for his trip abroad. He was diagnosis last year, he's had this done and they are monitoring him. Is this classed as an investigation or not, now that it's been done. TIA

[Happyrosie]

it depends on what question the insurer asks. If he is asked for a date of diagnosis and how many medications he is on, this could well be sufficient.

To get help on which insurers to go for, see MoneyHelper or Moneysavingexpert websites.

[Buddy00]

a loop recorder is only to help diagnose an issue. Your friend will find it very difficult even impossible to get insurance cover as how would they calculate the risk to offer insurance.

[Scotsman53]

If he's just gotten an ILR the previous diagnosis is irrelevant, he has undiagnosed symptoms under investigation and will not get insurance cover.

[L8Again]

My wife had an ILR fitted last year. The initial impact was that she told she could no longer drive a vehicle. Why - because the ILR is fitted as a diagnostic tool. It follows that from an insurance underwriter’s point of view it is impossible to assess risk. If risk cannot be assessed, then insurance will not be offered. Clearly, once ILR data enables a cardiologist to come up with a firm diagnosis, then the situation changes.

My wife now has a pacemaker which prevents her from having any further syncope episodes: she can now apply to have a driving licence re-instated.

I should add that in these circumstances some people are minded to ignore the need for insurance, and they go abroad without it. Some will no doubt get away with it but the consequences of ending up in a foreign hospital without health insurance cover doesn’t bear thinking about.

[Chinkoflight in reply to L8Again]

Hi, I'm a little confused by the advice you are offering. I live in the UK and had a stroke. I was advised to stop driving for a month.A year later an ILR was fitted to see if there were any HR irregularities. At no time was I advised to stop driving and there is no guidance on the DVLA to my knowledge.

However, you did say syncope, plural, had occurred and I assume this was the reason for fitting the investigative ILR. If ventricular tachycardia is considered the cause of the syncope then there is a mandatory 6 month ban together with a requirement to be clear of events throughout that period or the clock starts ticking again.

If a device (ICD) is fitted to protect against VT then the ban and licence revocation starts from the implant date.

So it would seem to me the driving ban was for the syncope, not the fitting of an ILR. Thats my understanding of the DVLA medical guidance system as it has been applied to me.