ESA letter from Therapist or Doctor

Sweet_Dee

Hello does anyone know if Breastcancer.org offers this? Kaiser Permanente no longer offers this as a service from Doctors or Therapists. I do not want to pay some internet company to get this. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you ! I am currently fighting breast cancer at this time.

moth

You would need to contact a therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist in your state to provide a letter. Remember ESA do not have the same access rights as service dogs & you need to know your local state/country laws. Intro for the US: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/news/everything-...

Why do you need an ESA? I have dogs & terminal cancer but it never occurred to me to pursue an esa.

Sweet_Dee

Thank you for your information. I just have depression occasionally from the cancer that my happiness has been my Maltese poodle and I want to be able to take him to the store or appt or in my car if I have to leave home. I will look into it further and also my state laws. I heard the government will soon stop the ESA letters in the near future so I want to take advantage before its true and they take that privilege away. Sorry about your terminal cancer. Take care.

moth

So the AKC link I posted (click the extended read) says in most places ESA are not allowed in stores or restaurants so this would likely not help you anyway. Also, what I've heard from those who train service dogs is that it's not that the letters are being stopped - it's that ESAs will require stricter training & licensing and there will not necessarily be grandfathering. So even if you manage to get a letter now, it's quite possible it will not be valid in future. I wish North America were more like Europe where dogs are often allowed in trains and restaurants etc.

I hope you'll stay on this msg board and join the many threads for discussion of cancer and treatments. We have lots of different discussions about both physical and mental side effects and how we're managing. It's a great online support group for all aspects of breast cancer treatment!

best wishes

exbrnxgrl

bco.org is an online support forum. There is no one here who can attest to your need for an ESA. Additionally as moth pointed out many entities are backing away from ESA's being allowed in their establishments, inclairlines, many which recently began to disallow ESA's.

I had a malti-poo for 16 years and she was wonderful. Good luck, but there is beginning to be a bit of a crackdown on ESA's.

Sweet_Dee

Thank you so very much for the information.

buttonsmachine

Sweet_Dee, you may already be aware of this, but the rules have recently changed regarding ESAs, at least regarding airline travel and the US Department of Transportation. See: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-final-rule-traveling-air-service-animals

If you are interested in obtaining an ESA letter for housing or other purpose that should still be doable, however it is not necessarily easy. This is what I know: sometimes providers are simply not allowed to write ESA letters per the guidelines of their own malpractice insurers, and this can also vary from state to state. It depends on the legal provisions of their medical malpractice and liability insurers. The fear from the insurance company's perspective is that if they write you a letter and your dog bites someone, they could be sued. Also, there is some question about how "evidence based" ESA's are in mental health treatment. It's kind of a gray area, and that always makes things harder.

However, there are people out there who are able and willing to write letters. I suggest just calling around and asking, starting with people who are in your network. I know a person (who does not have cancer), and she was unable to find an in-network provider who could/would write an ESA letter, so she paid out of pocket to see someone out of network. She is under this provider's regular care for mental health purposes, but also to obtain ESA letters. If that proves to be too difficult, you could then resort to some of the more reputable online ESA letter agencies.

Another possible avenue is to assess whether you actually need a true service animal. I have considered going this route myself. For now though, I am just a MBC patient with a pet dog.

Anyway, I hope that helps somewhat.

Sweet_Dee

Thank you for the information. Every one here is so nice and helpful. When or if I succeed I will definitely will update my post.