A medical discharge is an involuntary termination of the person's employment by the ADF on the grounds of permanent or at least long-term unfitness to serve, or unfitness for operational deployment.
Involuntary medical discharges from the ADF are made on the recommendation of a Medical Employment Classification Review Board (MECRB) which examines the member and also examines his/her medical record for the purposes of determining whether he/she is incapacitated in the long term, for Defence service. Following a recommendation to discharge a person as Medical Class 4 (MEC 4), that member has the opportunity to appeal that decision, and to provide reasons why he/she should not be discharged. This is of course, an administrative matter involving only the person and the Department of Defence.