Those health forms -- Truth or Consequences?

[k ellis]

One aspect to consider on any type of personal information is though Hippa itself may not cover an entity there is always the potential of being sued for releasing personal information. The paper copies you mention may or may not be covered (Not sure since Im not in the medical side of healthcare) but if say that doctor goes out and throws away all of his paper files into a dumpster and someone goes dumpster diving and finds out your social security number and runs out and steals your identity you could sue the doctor if evidence is found he was negligent with your information.

Again Hippa has a lot of cans and cants and it changes constantly which is why healthcare providers constantly have meetings to go over updated changes. So whats legal today may not be legal tommorow.

But back to the topic in discussion it is best to be honest though there really is no way to verify if someone is telling the truth or not by saying no. If something does go wrong and you are a solo diver (not as in single but as in no family or friends are with you) and you become unable to communicate your situation then critical time can be gained because they know what kind of problems you had to start with

 

[Herk_Man]

Haha sorry sometimes I post stuff and realise I should have added some more emoticons to make it more jovial to indicate that I'm joking.

The lack of emoticons in your post scares me, again.

 

[boulderjohn]

Am I missing something? Every Live A Board and dive resort operation asks for a release with medical questions on it! Check Blackbeards site, Aqua cat, Aggressor, Peter Hugh's, and all I know?

To answer a question asked: http://www.aquacatcruises.com/med statement.PDF

It is given to all passengers to fill out for the "Boats records"! I also just did my second one for Buddy Dive in Bonaire! They are standard for most boats and dive operators! Whether they are using them right is irrelevant if they won't let you dive unless the paper work is done!

Sorry, not correct. I wrote directly to them and got the reply:

Hi John,
No medical form is required for diving if you are already certified. If you have any issues that would be noted on your trip application that would need permission for diving from your doctor, then that would mean a letter from DR saying okay to dive.
Beth

 

[sdiver68]

On no planet would a dive shop be considered a covered entity under HIPAA. I have no idea if there are other privacy laws which require them to keep medical forms confidential or not, but they are not subject to the law we are discussing, HIPAA.

Sent a PM to discuss so as not to clog this thread but we disagree.

 

[lulubelle]

Sent a PM to discuss so as not to clog this thread but we disagree.

Happy to agree to disagree, I've been living and breathing and teaching this stuff since 1987, but really, please don't PM me about this.

If you find evidence that any dive shop is required to adhere to HIPAA laws for the medical information of it's customers, feel free to post it as it will be of interest to many.

Meanwhile, I will continue to just say NO on these forms unless I have something which is of concern when diving in which case I will be forthright.

 

[BioLogic]

But back to the topic in discussion it is best to be honest though there really is no way to verify if someone is telling the truth or not by saying no. If something does go wrong and you are a solo diver (not as in single but as in no family or friends are with you) and you become unable to communicate your situation then critical time can be gained because they know what kind of problems you had to start with[/QUOTE]

I think you misunderstand the thrust of the original question a bit. What I'm talking about is cases where professional medical opinion on the case at hand has indicated there *is no* issue with diving -- responders to any emergency involving the diver would therefore not need to know.

I'm really not advocating hiding *relevant* information here -- just protesting at being asked to again and again bring up issues that have been established to be *irrelevant*.

 

[k ellis]

But back to the topic in discussion it is best to be honest though there really is no way to verify if someone is telling the truth or not by saying no. If something does go wrong and you are a solo diver (not as in single but as in no family or friends are with you) and you become unable to communicate your situation then critical time can be gained because they know what kind of problems you had to start with

I think you misunderstand the thrust of the original question a bit. What I'm talking about is cases where professional medical opinion on the case at hand has indicated there *is no* issue with diving -- responders to any emergency involving the diver would therefore not need to know.

I'm really not advocating hiding *relevant* information here -- just protesting at being asked to again and again bring up issues that have been established to be *irrelevant*.[/QUOTE]

This I agree with totatly. I mean if you go diving on one day say Wednesday with dive company A and you fill everything out then the next day you go to company B and have to go and reanswer everything and the list would go on it does get old. One place I went to I filled out the sheet which was of course no to everything then went back and had to refill another sheet a few days later. I could not understand why I had to reanswer everything when they still had my old one from a few days prior. Oh well though this is all thanks to a give me give me society

 

[sabbath999]

Hi. For those of you who don't already know, I am BioLogic's husband and her regular dive buddy. We have made well over 100 dives together now, and I have been on all the dive trips she has been talking about.

I can still remember the look that passed between the two of us when the operator at Kona was telling the person in front of us that if they checked "yes" on the health form on anything, they were not going diving. The person was just a diver, not in any classes... and they were saying, basically, "if you want to get on this boat, you have to lie".

I have avoided commenting on this thread until now to see what others had to say, knowing what I know about her.

The two places we train at both know her entire medical history... we have had to rework her equipment to work around multiple surgery areas in the past, and they have helped. We always have a fresh medial form for them, signed off by her doctor who is a diver (all but one of her doctors have been divers), and in the past when she has had stuff done we have discussed how it will affect her diving in detail with the surgeons and oncology staff... we rock solid know that she is fit to dive.

Here's what she hasn't talked about... she is a competition level cyclist (although she doesn't race at this point in time) who is uber fit. Resting heart rate in the 40's, she's an honest size 2, extremely low body fat, and can drop 20 year old men who think they are fast on a bicycle like a bad habit. We are talking about a woman who works out two to three hours a day here, and is solid as a rock. We are also talking about a woman who teaches college level pathophysiology (the study of disease) and human physiology... so she has a pretty good idea of what affects the body when diving.

When a pathophysiologist and her doctors, who are divers, can find absolutely nothing wrong with her that would preclude a person from diving (and who have signed off on her fitness on the proper forms time and again)... and when she is in elite athletic physical shape... it just seems a bit silly to be denied the right to dive because somebody who doesn't know or care about her level of health and fitness won't let her dive because of a stupid bit of paperwork. She has had cancer, and has had surgery. She isn't currently on any medications whatever, isn't currently recovering from surgery, and is almost certainly the most fit person on the boat.

One last note:

Everybody lies. Show me a person that doesn't. Every single person on this board has told lies, and most people lie every single day (either outright or through omission). Anybody who says different just proves the point. IMHO.

 

[northen diver]

I have a CDL drive a tour bus loaded with people. I get a medical every year for that. I see my Dr every year I take two to three Dr. exams every year i know more about my medical condition than a large % of people out there diving put I go to Rhodes and because of a yes I have to see there Dr. lucky they had one and then he all most didn't clear me. I have no plans to kill myself much less any one else. I feel very much like saying no. I haven't yet but I am considering it

If you are seeing a doctor every year for a DOT physical, you have some medical conditions for the DOT physicals are every two years. If you lie on a DOT physical, and have an accident due to your illness, it is a serious crime. I would suggest to read the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations before falsify goverment forms.

 

[northen diver]

Hi. For those of you who don't already know, I am BioLogic's husband and her regular dive buddy. We have made well over 100 dives together now, and I have been on all the dive trips she has been talking about.

I can still remember the look that passed between the two of us when the operator at Kona was telling the person in front of us that if they checked "yes" on the health form on anything, they were not going diving. The person was just a diver, not in any classes... and they were saying, basically, "if you want to get on this boat, you have to lie".

I have avoided commenting on this thread until now to see what others had to say, knowing what I know about her.

The two places we train at both know her entire medical history... we have had to rework her equipment to work around multiple surgery areas in the past, and they have helped. We always have a fresh medial form for them, signed off by her doctor who is a diver (all but one of her doctors have been divers), and in the past when she has had stuff done we have discussed how it will affect her diving in detail with the surgeons and oncology staff... we rock solid know that she is fit to dive.

Here's what she hasn't talked about... she is a competition level cyclist (although she doesn't race at this point in time) who is uber fit. Resting heart rate in the 40's, she's an honest size 2, extremely low body fat, and can drop 20 year old men who think they are fast on a bicycle like a bad habit. We are talking about a woman who works out two to three hours a day here, and is solid as a rock. We are also talking about a woman who teaches college level pathophysiology (the study of disease) and human physiology... so she has a pretty good idea of what affects the body when diving.

When a pathophysiologist and her doctors, who are divers, can find absolutely nothing wrong with her that would preclude a person from diving (and who have signed off on her fitness on the proper forms time and again)... and when she is in elite athletic physical shape... it just seems a bit silly to be denied the right to dive because somebody who doesn't know or care about her level of health and fitness won't let her dive because of a stupid bit of paperwork. She has had cancer, and has had surgery. She isn't currently on any medications whatever, isn't currently recovering from surgery, and is almost certainly the most fit person on the boat.

One last note:

Everybody lies. Show me a person that doesn't. Every single person on this board has told lies, and most people lie every single day (either outright or through omission). Anybody who says different just proves the point. IMHO.

While a lower resting heart rate is a pretty common side effect of gaining aerobic fitness, there is little proof of any significant health or performance benefit asociated with a lower heart rate. People tend to marvel at an elite athlete with a 30bpm, there are just as many elite athlete in the 50 and 60 bpm range.

There is actually a medical term for this. It is called athletic heart syndrome which is a enlarged heart from copius amounts of excercising of the heart.

Even elite athletes could very well have medical conditions that could affect ones dive medical questionare. I am in pretty descent shape and I had a broken ear drum, along with some recent degenertive knee (from years of running) deteriotation.