In fact you can just bring MD signed second page w/o first one.
Maybe yes and maybe no.
I just looked at the PADI medical statement (which appears to be promulgated by RSTC and adopted by PADI). The medical statement includes the questionnaire and has the following statement (emphasis added by me):
You must complete this Medical Statement, which includes the medical questionnaire section, to enroll in the scuba training program.
Most students would not understand that they don't need to complete the medical questionnaire and can simply provide a form signed by an MD. In fact, I would suspect that many instructors (particularly the newbies) would read the form literally and say, no, you must complete the questionnaire. PADI requires it.
Now let's look at some of the questions.
Could you be pregnant, or are you attempting to become pregnant?
Many women don't want to disclose their pregnancy until, say, the third month (and certainly not first to a dive boat operator or instructor). But let's leave that aside on the questionable assumption that a woman one month pregnant or one day pregnant is disqualified from diving. What about the
attempting part? Is that not truly invasive of privacy?
Here's another question.
Are you presently taking prescription medications? (with the exception of birth control or anti-malarial)
Ironic on two counts. First, the concern about invading the privacy of a woman (after inquiring about her sex life). Second, some anti-malarial drugs would be far more likely to present issues under pressure than, say, a statin.
Now as to prescription drugs. I was taking Zyrtec (a long-acting antihistamine) when it was a prescription drug. It went generic and went to over-the-counter status (as cetirizine). There was no change in the drug, and there were no medical studies to show its effect on divers under pressure. Yet the answer went from being a YES to a NO on that drug.
The questionnaire asks "
Have you ever had" (their boldface, not mine) any of several conditions, including
Frequent or severe attacks of hayfever or allergy?
The answer is yes when I was a child and young adult. I haven't had frequent or severe allergy attacks for 30 years now. But a yes answer earns me a trip to the doctor for medical clearance.
Frequent colds, sinusitis or bronchitis?
My older son used to get colds all the time as a toddler. Twenty years later that disqualifies him from diving without a medical sign-off?
Recreational drug use ... in the past five years?
Recreational drugs, such as marijuana, stay in your system for five years? If the only YES answer is based on my having smoked marijuana once four years ago, I need to get a medical exam? But if I got totally blotto a week ago, it's OK.
On top of the form it says, "Participant Record (Confidential Information)." Confidential? Who says? Are there laws preventing the disclosure of this information as there are with doctors and hospitals (such as HIPAA)? NO! Yeah, sure you can sue someone and maybe win, but at great cost and with uncertain ability to collect.
My point is that the questionnaires are seriously flawed, and we can't change them. We have to deal with the questionnaires as they are, and if they are flawed in a particular diver's circumstances (
e.g., once having smoked marijuana in the last five years), then I find no fault in the diver rejecting any "ethical" responsibility to answer an idiotic question intelligently.
I agree that there is a need for beginning SCUBA students to be aware that medical conditions can affect their safety, but the correct approach would be to inform students more accurately of the risks that certain medical conditions pose and not requiring the student to answer each and every question. It would be sufficient to say that any YES answer requires a medical sign-off.
And I certainly don't agree that a dive op needs to ask any of these questions from a certified diver.