OP
Skittl1321
Contributor
- Messages
- 1,756
- Reaction score
- 660
- # of dives
- 25 - 49
Medical forms?
- Thread starter Skittl1321
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Roman_66, here is the medical form. Page one is the questionnaire. Page two is for the doctor's signature if you have a YES answer on page 1. The form says PADI on it but all the agencies use essentially the same form.
In most cases, you only need this if you are taking a class.
In most cases, you only need this if you are taking a class.
If you are comfortable with your doc and he signs, no problem. If not, call DAN and get a referral. I did that for an ENT. They also told me of DAN family doc who was dive familiar.
Hey and if they don't ask about medical conditions on your boat, just review your CPR procedures before the trip.
Hey and if they don't ask about medical conditions on your boat, just review your CPR procedures before the trip.
+1 What happened to personal responsibility? If you believe you are medically qualified to dive, why would you ever answer "yes"? So someone could drag your Dr. into a lawsuit?
I spew in the slightest ripple, have hayfever, had a monster case of "turista" (undercooked eggs in Bali) , and worst of all am >45 and have (very moderate) high(er) blood pressure. . .
Are any of these blocking me executing a safe dive, IMHO hell no
WarrenZ
The Ultimate Bad Example
I'm with everyone else I've had skin bends before and I still checked no on the form. The instructor even had me tell the story during rescue class after I checked no on the form. If you are worried medically and get checked by your Doc that's good but it should be for YOU not to make your dive op comfortable.
mediumone
Contributor
I'll share my reasons for answering yes, and will give you some background information.
I'm 6'1", 170 lbs ( a long damn way from overweight, much less obese, no?), and have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It is well controlled with meds, and in fact my last A1c reading (A1c shows a 3 month average blood glucose level), was 6.2, which is really closer to pre-diabetes than full blown diabetes.
I want everyone to know who might be in a position to communicate with medical personnel on my behalf should I become incapacitated. I haven't bothered to educate myself to know whether my condition might alter the composition of IV's, for example, if they were required due to some illness or injury.
There are certainly other scenarios that we could come up with, but no need to belabor the point.
I don't feel the need to be a tough cowboy.
mediumone, that's good reasoning, but I have to wonder whether filling out those check-the-box medical forms will actually make it more likely that the dive op will timely communicate useful information about your medical conditions to EMS personnel. The dive op's personnel typically aren't medically trained and have little idea what the checkboxes mean, other than if you check "yes" it means you need a waiver from your physician before they will let you dive. Most dive ops just file your medical form away in a file cabinet, so it seems of questionable likelihood whether in an emergency they are going to dig up your file and show the form to EMS personnel in time for it to be of use to them. If I had a medical condition that I (and my physician) believe would be important for EMS personnel to be aware of, I wouldn't rely on those medical forms that the dive op supplies to convey it. Perhaps you have a medic-alert bracelet or equivalent in view of your diabetes? I think something like that would serve this purpose much better than the silly medical forms the dive op supplies.
And I'm back to my rant about personal responsibility. Shouldn't you have this conversation with your Dr? Why are you content putting this (potential) decision into the hands of a (potential) zero-to-hero DM ?
mstevens
Toadfish. Splendid is implied but not guaranteed.
I will just point out that most of my colleagues have zero understanding of the medical risks or issues involved with diving.
If ones purpose is just to get a signature that will reassure a dive op and allow diving, then by all means get it from the local family doc (who might well be a diver, but most likely thinks the biggest risk is sharks).
If the purpose is to get an actual usable opinion about whether one should dive, consult someone with hyperbaric medicine experience or get a referral from DAN.
If ones purpose is just to get a signature that will reassure a dive op and allow diving, then by all means get it from the local family doc (who might well be a diver, but most likely thinks the biggest risk is sharks).
If the purpose is to get an actual usable opinion about whether one should dive, consult someone with hyperbaric medicine experience or get a referral from DAN.
The missus' nephro signed hers a while ago and said don't go too deep. He have been diving on vacation, but really had no clue as to why he suggested that. I think it was kinda like a 'be safer' kind of advice.
Similar threads
