There is another issue with a diver's physical at least in the USA. Are you getting a piece of paper signed so that the operator will let you participate? Or are you having a medical conversation on if you are fit to dive? and if so, what special precautions should you take?
Most HMO insurers will no longer allow their doctors to fill out 'physical participation forms'. You have to make a separate appointment and pay out of pocket for these. Unfortunately, you can't make such an appointment with your HMO PCP or non-HMO PCP in most cases. So to get the form signed you often have to go to an Urgent Care or Occupational Medicine clinic. I was a provider (PA) at such a clinic for many years, I filled out these forms for sports, diving, commercial diving, USCG, etc. The problem being is I had no prior knowledge of the applicant and had to depend on them to give me accurate medical history (of which usually it isn't in their best interests to give me). Yes, overt things like out of control BP, and out of control diabetes show in the physical and minimal labs done, but anything else is all about applicant honesty. So doing it this way just gives the applicant the signed piece of paper, but not a real discussion on diving with medical issues that the applicant (and examiner) might not even realize are germane. A good example would be an applicant with a remote (>20 yrs prior) history of spontaneous pneumothorax. Unless the applicant remembers to bring this up, which they might have even forgotten about, and unless the examiner understands diving medicine, this HARD NO to diving is likely to be overlooked.
The other option is to have a complete discussion with your PCP and any relevant specialists on your fitness to dive. This is the better way to do that, unfortunately under most insurances in the USA today the doctors' employer won't allow them to sign the needed form. A kludgy work around might be to have the real discussion with your doctor(s) and have them write a letter to the form examiner with your doctor's opinion on your health for diving. Then you take this letter to the Urgent Care for having the diving form signed. This is what I needed done on several of my DOT commercial drivers applicants.
So it is no wonder that the diver's medical forms end up with a lot of "no" answers where in reality it should be a "yes" but doesn't actually impact diving safety. A good example of a reasonable "no" would be for a "yes" to a stable condition that was resolved years before AND has been previously cleared for unrestricted diving.
Most HMO insurers will no longer allow their doctors to fill out 'physical participation forms'. You have to make a separate appointment and pay out of pocket for these. Unfortunately, you can't make such an appointment with your HMO PCP or non-HMO PCP in most cases. So to get the form signed you often have to go to an Urgent Care or Occupational Medicine clinic. I was a provider (PA) at such a clinic for many years, I filled out these forms for sports, diving, commercial diving, USCG, etc. The problem being is I had no prior knowledge of the applicant and had to depend on them to give me accurate medical history (of which usually it isn't in their best interests to give me). Yes, overt things like out of control BP, and out of control diabetes show in the physical and minimal labs done, but anything else is all about applicant honesty. So doing it this way just gives the applicant the signed piece of paper, but not a real discussion on diving with medical issues that the applicant (and examiner) might not even realize are germane. A good example would be an applicant with a remote (>20 yrs prior) history of spontaneous pneumothorax. Unless the applicant remembers to bring this up, which they might have even forgotten about, and unless the examiner understands diving medicine, this HARD NO to diving is likely to be overlooked.
The other option is to have a complete discussion with your PCP and any relevant specialists on your fitness to dive. This is the better way to do that, unfortunately under most insurances in the USA today the doctors' employer won't allow them to sign the needed form. A kludgy work around might be to have the real discussion with your doctor(s) and have them write a letter to the form examiner with your doctor's opinion on your health for diving. Then you take this letter to the Urgent Care for having the diving form signed. This is what I needed done on several of my DOT commercial drivers applicants.
So it is no wonder that the diver's medical forms end up with a lot of "no" answers where in reality it should be a "yes" but doesn't actually impact diving safety. A good example of a reasonable "no" would be for a "yes" to a stable condition that was resolved years before AND has been previously cleared for unrestricted diving.
