I think the aspect of this issue I like least, is the concept of an "undeserved hit". To me, in cases where DCS occurs but the diver was well inside the tables.....I would rather position the DCS as having been caused by a PFO, then the ridiculous suggestion of an "undeserved hit".
Something is going to be responsible for the hit in these cases....it is going to be medical like a PFO, or poor fitness, or poor "something"....in which case, it IS deserved, in this manner of speaking
They deal with this huge population of divers, with horrible medical complications all the way to elite athlete, all rolled in to this one population---and then derive safe depth and durations for this group that simply does not have enough in common to be a group.
Then look at special tables like Dr Bill Hamilton and Bill Mee did for George Irvine---and look at run times over twice as long at given depths, with less incidence of a hit occurring. Or, even the Navy tables from back in the 60's and 70's, where we would do 60 for 60.
The issue here, is a table "ought to be" aimed at a specific body type, fitness, hydration and with suggested activity levels all around the dive, and with a lack of medical complications. This reduces the number of variables that get ignored in the present PADI tables.
What we have is a big dog and pony show, where the industry tries to make "the tables" look like a perfected science, while in reality, it is a lot of Voodoo for many individuals ( divers counting on all the fudge factors and rounding and conservatism to protect them. So you end up with a 45 year old accountant that has been sedentary and behind a desk for his entire life, riddled with the physical and medical complications of a life without fitness or good nutrition, now wearing one Thousand dollar computer to base depth times on, plus another as back up. This guy can study the PADI tables and discuss them and then use words like being "conservative"....the thing is, call a spade a spade. It is not being conservative, it is just fudging....It is taking an activity that is absolutely safe for "some individuals", and then by cutting the time in half for the ones that perhaps should not even dive, it is pretending that this duration has "scientifically" determined that it will be safe for them. My point is that it is NOT scientific...what it is, is "marketing" to the masses.
So as not to make this a whine and cheeze post.....What I would call for would be new studies on specific populations with medical and physical and all other obvious "differences" removed from each group---so that the results would allow you to follow the tables for the group your fitness, medical health, diet, hydration, and activity levels around the dive, have you closest to.
We would then end up with perhaps 10 different tables, and then each diver would try to pick the table they would be best able to be "fit" into. The fancy computers could still be used, they would just need to have all ten tables contained in them( be able to compute all 10), for the diver to pick the right one .
Training agencies could then suggest programs that would allow a diver to move from one category of diver tables to another, programs for fitness, reduction of inflammation by diet to address medical problems, etc. Right now, it is mostly ignored. Divers are general population. America has a general population of very unhealthy people, that spend a fortune on health care, due to the NORM that each will have so many medical problems in their life, they could not afford not to have this health coverage. A HEALTHY population would not desire this. A healthy person would not be taking blood pressure drugs, or anti cholesterol drugs, or heart meds, or the other handfuls of pills NORMAL to the average American.
So for now, rather than spending the huge money on fancy computers computing fudge factors over individualization.....the "average" diver would be better off just diving square profiles, staying inside the Padi table, and maybe even breathing Nitrox on the dives --even though using the air tables.....remember, it's all about fudging, and you can do this yourself without wasting thousands of dollars!