Rich... how can you say she "avoids putting the liability burden" on me? Her withholding of information in no way releases me from any liability. There is no absolute "right" to be a scuba diver. If you want to be a diver, you agree to disclose certain things that are material. You accept this as a condition of participating in training or other dive services. Therefor you have ZERO expectation of keeping that information to yourself. If you want to avoid disclosing that information... don't dive. It's pretty simple. Because the prospective diver freely accepts the requirement to disclose, there is no "where you stand depends on where you sit" cover of moral relativism available here.
Quite right, RJP.
Organized scuba has done a near miraculous job of self-regulating, thereby almost entirely staving off the imposition of laws, regulations and standards by federal, state and local governments.
This accomplishment is in no small part due to divers following industry rules in an honest and ethical manner, such as being forthright in completing medical questionnaires. If and when enough divers lie accidents will occur and they eventually will catch the eye of federal, state and local government. When that happens, legal measures will be passed, such as the mandatory medical examinations in Queensland, Malta and other venues. It's simply appropriate and prudent to report diseases and disorders because these are the uniform rules of organized scuba, a pursuit in which you have voluntarily chosen to participate and whose overall welfare is in your's and other's best interests.
The scuba diver voluntarily waives his or her "right" to keep personal medical information personal when they contract for training with a dive agency or for diving with an op. It is the agency's and op's perfect right to ask the diver to be honest with them regarding medical conditions that could mean additional risks to the business, other customers and diver himself. There is nothing illegal, inappropriate or unethical about this. The provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are binding on health insurers, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other health care facilities and providers, not on dive ops and training agencies. Asking the diver to complete a medical questionnaire is consistent with the guidelines of The Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC), a worldwide organization which establishes minimum training standards for recreational scuba in order to promote public safety. PADI, SSI, IDEA, SDI, PSS & PDIC, amongst others, are members.
From a legal standpoint, the businesses would be insane not to. A diver's verbal assertions that "I'm capable of monitoring my own medical condition, "I won't sue," "I don't pose a risk to other divers," and the like are both practically and legally meaningless. Even if they weren't meaningless, they wouldn't be binding on the injured or deceased diver's relatives, estate or other entity with legal standing in a negligence or wrongful death suit.
The diver participates in recreational scuba on a voluntary basis. No one forces him to and it's not an activity that is essential to one's livelihood or fundamental well-being. It is a recreation, a past time, a fun thing to do. The individual who does not like the rules or legal maneuvers that the sport uses to protect the diver, other customers and the businesses that offer scuba services doesn't have to participate. He or she can find diversions whose rules better suit them, recreations which don't require them to divulge their medical history. Heaven knows there are dozens and dozens of them.
If you want to dive, then accurately filling out the various forms, questionnaires and waivers required by scuba companies is part of what you must agree to, like it or not.
Regards,
DocVikingo
