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Deployment medicine

CASE-47-CReturn-to-Duty Determination

Authored demonstration. Not a live employer result.

01 · Situation

Treatment finished. The determination did not.

Illustrative medical hold ends and treatment completes; the formal return-to-duty determination stalls past the unit’s training cycle start.

02 · Evidence

What the record holds.

  1. E1Medical hold record

    Verified · Day 0

  2. E2Treatment completion note

    Verified · Day 60

  3. E3Return-to-duty determination

    Not located · Due Day 65, per this demonstration’s illustrative case protocol

  4. E4Authoritative unit training-cycle status record shows status unresolved as training begins

    Verified · Day 70

03 · Obligations / Owners

The chain of responsibility.

  1. 01

    Treating provider (complete treatment and report)

  2. 02

    Medical review board (issue determination within the illustrative five-day window)

  3. 03

    Unit commander (reassign on determination)

04 · Accountability Break

Where the chain broke.

The determination stalled after treatment ended, with no escalation before the cycle deadline.

05 · Next Action

The corrective obligation.

The board issues a determination or a documented extension before cycle start — no silent default.

06 · Economic Boundary

Where the evidence stops.

Not established.

07 · Engine Answer

What the Engine can and cannot establish.

The medical review board was required, under this demonstration’s illustrative case protocol, to issue a return-to-duty determination by Day 65, five days after treatment completion. The record shows treatment completed on Day 60, and the authoritative unit status record shows the determination unresolved as the training cycle begins on Day 70. The Engine can demonstrate an unfulfilled adjudication obligation. It cannot establish why the board did not act or whether the outcome would have been favorable.

Treatment finished on time. The required determination did not.