Bankruptcy Exemptions: Prescription Requirements for Medical Equipment Exemptions

Several years ago, I bought some electronic and mechanical equipment for our custom electronic design business. I now do not use them for business purposes. I continue to use them for medically therapeutic purposes, and have uniquely modified some for these for therapeutic purposes. I am a 72-yr old low income Disabled Veteran with diagnosed PTSD, essential tremors, and arthritis. I talked to my new VA doctor and he says that unless the VA suggested the equipment for me (which it did not), or it is otherwise legally permissible to prescribe equipment already owned by the patient, he won't provide me a prescription for them. I am not asking the VA to buy me any equipment, but only to prescribe what I already have and successfully use therapeutically. My doctor has pretty much put the burden on me to prove that there is no known legal reason why a doctor cannot prescribe after-the-fact equipment used for therapeutic purposes. I need the prescription so if one day I have to declare bankruptcy, I can protect the equipment I need so much to help me function close to normal and not get worse. I read where a guy bought a wheelchair on his own for his injured wife, they then had to declare bankruptcy and could not get a doctor's appointment in time to try to get a prescription, so the Trustee sold off her wheelchair because she lacked a prescription for it! I have also read where a guy with a missing arm part had a device specially-made and installed in his car so he could drive, but the Trustee forced him to sell off his truck as part of his bankruptcy!

I have done a lot of Online research on this issue and cannot find an answer. And from what I found, a person can get a prescription for a "comfort animal" even though he/she has owned the animal for years as a family pet.

QUESTION #1: To get a medical equipment exemption, is an official prescription required by a medical professional? If a person cannot find a medical professional who will prescribe equipment of great therapeutic benefit to the person that the person already owns and therapeutically uses, how can the person obtain a medical equipment exemption for the equipment?

QUESTION #2: Is there any Federal or New Mexico legal reason why a doctor cannot prescribed equipment already owned and used for therapeutic purposes that the patient bought without prescription some time before?

QUESTION #3: Are medical professionals limited to writing prescriptions for only those specific devices the professional picks out himself/herself for the patient, and cannot write prescriptions for devices that the patient from his/her own experiences found to be medically therapeutic?

Please respond. Thanks, wizguru

Bankruptcy Exemptions: Prescription Requirements for Medical Equipment Exemptions