C-Card roulette

[stuartv]

Places I have dealt with would accept a doctor's approval for diving if it's within 1 year old. So, get an annual physical and get your doctor to sign off on a scuba form (if you have any reason to mark Yes on a regular scuba medical questionnaire).

I think the medical for my SDI pro card required a doctor to sign off within the last year, regardless of whether there was a Yes on my questionnaire.

 

[Edward3c]

Fair enough now that we know. This operator required the five pages of paperwork but we were caught by surprise since three other operators only asked to see our certification cards.

Another weird situation.... One of the largest dive operators that the wife and I have been diving with regularly over the past four years had absolutely no problem letting my wife and I dive with dry-suits. When the wife later decided to take the drysuit class with the same operator they required her to fill out the questionnaire and provide a doctor's OK. It seems silly that we can dive by ourselves but need the doctor's OK for her to dive with an instructor. I would have thought it safer to be diving with an instructor. Perhaps this is a PADI thing.

Nothing silly, in the first situation your responsibility is to each other, in the second your wife had a responsibility to the instructor and the operator.

 

[dmaziuk]

As I understand it, PADI requires their medical questionnaire (and doctor's sign-off if required) for every course of theirs.

Every member of RSTC does I believe, but the flip side is the form spells out "to receive training". So if an op demands that signed form for a non-training dive, you have every right to demand a cert after the dive's done. Some cert. Otherwise they simply have no right to ask for the particular form you're thinking of.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've showed my instructor card on trips all over the world without any problems. The only time someone ever asked me if I would mind pairing up with a brand new diver I responded by saying "Sure, if you'll comp me the trip and sign a form agreeing to cover my liability". They declined ... and found me someone else to dive with.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Thalassamania]

With respect to medicals, might I recommend the AAUS Standards:

6.20 Frequency of Medical Evaluations Medical evaluation shall be completed:

1. Before a diver may begin diving, unless an equivalent initial medical evaluation has been given within the preceding 5 years (3 years if over the age of 40, 2 years if over the age of 60), the member organization has obtained the results of that examination, and those results have been reviewed and found satisfactory by the member organization.
2. Thereafter, at 5 year intervals up to age 40, every 3 years after the age of 40, and every 2 years after the age of 60.
3. Clearance to return to diving must be obtained from a physician following any major injury or illness, or any condition requiring hospital care or chronic medication. If the injury or illness is pressure related, then the clearance to return to diving must come from a physician trained in diving medicine.

Also:

• Elliott, D.H. ed. 1996. Are Asthmatics Fit to Dive? Kensington, MD: Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.
• Bove, A.A. 2011. The cardiovascular system and diving risk. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine 38(4): 261-269.
• Thompson, P.D. 2011. The cardiovascular risks of diving. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine 38(4): 271-277.
• Douglas, P.S. 2011. Cardiovascular screening in asymptomatic adults: Lessons for the diving world. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine 38(4): 279-287.
• Mitchell, S.J., and A.A. Bove. 2011. Medical screening of recreational divers for cardiovascular disease: Consensus discussion at the Divers Alert Network Fatality Workshop. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine 38(4): 289-296.
• Grundy, S.M., Pasternak, R., Greenland, P., Smith, S., and Fuster, V. 1999. Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk by Use of Multiple-Risk-Factor Assessment Equations. AHA/ACC Scientific Statement. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 34: 1348-1359. http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/short/34/4/1348
• Bove, A.A. and Davis, J. 2003. DIVING MEDICINE, Fourth Edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company.
• Edmonds, C., Lowry, C., Pennefather, J. and Walker, R. 2002. DIVING AND SUBAQUATIC MEDICINE, Fourth Edition. London: Hodder Arnold Publishers.
• Bove, A.A. ed. 1998. MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF SPORT SCUBA DIVERS, San Antonio, TX: Medical Seminars, Inc.
• NOAA DIVING MANUAL, NOAA. Superintendent of Documents. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

 

[TrimixToo]

I get a new form signed every year. Not because I'm actively taking classes, though I might, but because I want my doctor to think about my physical condition and diving every year. You're there, taking the physical once a year anyway (I hope). It costs nothing to hand the doc the form and have them sign it.

 

[rick00001967]

costs me about 170 bucks

 

[TrimixToo]

costs me about 170 bucks

Just to get the form signed after a physical? Sheesh...

 

[CrumhornDiver]

I think it cost me around $6 on Koh Tao for the med form for DM. The doctor never touched me. A nurse listened to my breath sounds and took my pulse. I think the doctor and I talked about my job and her medical specialties and experience for most of the "consultation". Luckily, I have no major health issues so I deemed it a formality. YMMV.

 

[jlcnuke]

I think it cost me around $6 on Koh Tao for the med form for DM. The doctor never touched me. A nurse listened to my breath sounds and took my pulse. I think the doctor and I talked about my job and her medical specialties and experience for most of the "consultation". Luckily, I have no major health issues so I deemed it a formality. YMMV.

It took me 4 hours of calling around to find 1 doctor that would consider signing paperwork last time, and almost 2 hours there explaining the requirements of the studies for diabetics that I already understand to get them to sign it off... oh, and $100 to get the "physical" done.