Dive Ops requiring doctor's certificates before being allowed to dive.

[hammerhead man]

Recently, I decided to take a trip through my local dive shop and at the pre-trip briefing I discovered that the dive op we were going to use on the island of Eleuthera required that divers fill out a medical history form and if you answered yes to any questions then you needed a doctor's certificate before they would let you dive. I have dived all over the world and never encountered this before and was wondering if any other people have experienced this. What bothered me was that the dive-op did not advertise this prior to my signing up and if I had not learned of it before arriving at the location I would not have been able to dive. In my case, I am taking medication for high blood pressure and thus, need a doctor's certificate clearing me to dive. So, I would have been forced to lie on the form (this is against my principles) or not dive.

I wrote the resort that sells the packages and strongly suggested that the medical waiver form be mentioned on their web site so that people are not caught unaware of what their requirements are. My personal feeling is that it is appropriate to inform divers of the risk of diving with certain health issues but that requiring a doctor's certificate as a requirement to dive was a bit over the top. I would be interested in your thoughts.

Regards,

Bill

 

[ReefHound]

Lying is against my principles, too.

But losing out $1000 over some ridiculous CYA policy revealed to me after the fact is even more against my principles.

 

[Louie]

Yes I've come across this on sevearl occasions when going on trips.

Standards and health requirements for recreational diving vary depending on where you are and on the individual dive operation. Some require a doctor's certificate on the "Yes" medical questions while others don't bother with medical questionnaires.

I went on a dive holiday to one place where all divers were required to have a LOCAL medical (the doctor asks a few rudimentary questions, uses a stethoscope and looks into your ears). The arrangements were made through the dive resorts who organised the appointments on mass and drove the customers down to the doctor, then a quick exam and then back to the resort.

To save time and avoid future inconveniences, it's a good idea to ask about pre-existing conditions and necessary medical documents for a particular place or operation. If you have the option of having an exam at home ahead of the holidays, you can take advantage of that.

 

[leapfrog]

In Spain, you are required by law to have had a medical and produce an official medical certificate from a doctor no older than six months before you take a course. Certificates are only required for courses and will be re-required for every course you do unless you do another one following up the previous one all under six months and with the same operator.

 

[Ana]

This type of requirements would stop if every diver that receives that form tell the operator where to place said paper. But people want to be liked by the operators, I've seen divers that behave like they're not worthy of being on board and need approval from the operators. What part of purchasing a service is evading them?

Since when the operators are doing the divers a favor? I understand the need on the side of the operators to protect themselves from liability but some of them go too far. Of course they wouldn't go that far if the divers would stop them, but most of the divers hear a few tunes of Jimmy Buffet and poof: they feel one with the ocean and become a nice little sheep herd. Perfect target of manipulation, they would even chastise less compliant divers.
I saw in another thread some operations "require" to keep your cert. card while you dive. Uh?

Why? why do the operators can get away asking for additional stuff AFTER the money has changed hands? my only guess is that people are cattle at heart. I get the feeling that at this rate, it is only going to get worse.

 

[Diver0001]

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[Ana]

If you have the option of having an exam at home ahead of the holidays, you can take advantage of that.

Having a medical before each trip??? Are we at this level of "big brother" syndrome?

Medical releases are needed to get your certification, do you need to prove yourself over and over on every dive? Nonsense.
What if you have insurance (DAN or similar), showing your cert card along with your insurance card should be enough.

I guess my diving on trips will be less and less, is a good thing I can dive locally from a private vessel.

 

[hammerhead man]

Leapfrog, we also require a doctor's certificate for training courses; however, I've never had to produce a doctor's certificate for a dive trip. My question is twofold. First, if this is a common practice; and second, if it is did you know of the requirement before taking the trip or were you given the form when you got to your destination. If a medical release form is required then, I believe, the dive operation needs to make that widely known before you leave on your trip. Personally, as I stated in my original post, I think requiring a doctor's certificate is a bit over the top.

Just my thoughts,

Bill

 

[hammerhead man]

Louie, if I may ask, in all the trips you have taken how often have you been required to fill out a medical waiver that required a doctor's certificate (50%, 75%, once, twice, etc). Also, I'm just curious, where was the resort that required a local doctor's certificate?

Regards,

Bill

 

[Louie]

Louie, if I may ask, in all the trips you have taken how often have you been required to fill out a medical waiver that required a doctor's certificate (50%, 75%, once, twice, etc). Also, I'm just curious, where was the resort that required a local doctor's certificate?

Regards,

Bill

Gozo/Malta requires (or they did few years ago) a current cert from a doctor.

Generally, I would guess for recreational diving (not courses), I've been asked for certificates on about a dozen occasions.

While some may consider medical certificates an inconvenience, consider the other side - the dive operator "encouraging" prospective clients to not mention pre-existing medical conditions (the sort of thing that's done during low seasons by operators desperate for business). I know of places that regularly tell divers to "forget" about conditions such as asthma. If anything were to happen on a dive after having lied on a medical questionnaire, there is the real possibility of your insurance being invalidated - and that would be an expensive folly.