To tell or not to tell?

[miguel sanz]

In agree that the tags are a great idea, my resistance comes from telling non-medical persons. Of course your buddy should know.
Very funny the wife thing, in my country it´s exactly the same.

 

[dripdrypoet]

- do you let your buddy know? I can understand not letting the dive op know - it's your choice to dive and really none of their business.

The fellows I dive with all of the time know about my well-controled and Dr. approved condition. Never an issue. I did, however, make the mistake of sharing this with the person I was buddied with in a class, who promptly ran to the instructor with the info. It wound up costing me 3 potential friends (no loss in retrospect) and $380 (BIG loss). Never again.

 

[wettek]

I cannot believe the gross ignorance and arrogance of some of the replies to this topic. As a PADI MSDT working in the dive industry on the Great Barrier Reef, we take safety seriously. The vast majority of the accidents that have ocurred are due to non-disclosure of existing medical conditions. Just because your local family doctor says you will be fine to dive, I dare say a qaulified diving doctor may have a completely different view of your medication or condition. How are you going to feel if a loved one has an incident due to non-disclosure. If you tell me on a dive trip that you have medications, or a condition not approved by the doctor I check it with, I will quite happily stop you diving in the interests of your own safety. If you want to hurt yourself, you're not going to do it on one of my trips. Ignorance may be bliss, but stupidity may be fatal.

 

[Snowbear]

Maybe so, but most of the replies here referred to a qualified doc. Your response wettek, is the reason for the original point presented in this post. If someone has been deemed OK to dive by a doc, assumes the risk of diving with said condition, then why would they want to reveal the condition to a dive op who will likely decide they are safer not diving?

Oh yeah - welcome to the board.

 

[wettek]

Maybe so, but most of the replies here referred to a qualified doc. Your response wettek, is the reason for the original point presented in this post. If someone has been deemed OK to dive by a doc, assumes the risk of diving with said condition, then why would they want to reveal the condition to a dive op who will likely decide they are safer not diving?

Oh yeah - welcome to the board.

That's fine Snowbear, but their doc who has deemed them ok to dive may know squat about the physiology of diving-would you let your wifes gyno perform brain surgery on you? Or to use another analogy, I do my own tax, but I don't try and do the tax for a business. All doctors aren't dive doctors. Secondly, if someone blatantly lies on a dive medical and hurts or kills themselves, the poor old dive company or instructors will get dragged through the legal and insurance system. They may be cleared in the long run, but it may be my professional reputation the mud sticks to. Personally, as far as I am concerned I don't give a damn if someone wants to risk hurting themselves, as long as they don't take my reputation with them or injure their buddy due to an emergency situation caused by a blatant lie. Waivers are also their for your own protection.

Gotta love passionate discussion!!!!

 

[wettek]

By the way, I don't make calls on who can and can't dive. I call a qualified dive doctor here in Cairns who has the appropriate hyperbaric medicine credentials. This is the case for all dive boats out of Cairns, they aren't just made by some half-assed instructor who thinks they know it all. Sure there are some cowboys out there, but here on the Great Barrier Reef, the overwhelming majority of operators try to do the right thing by their clients. We want people to go home having had a good time, tell their mates and come back!!!!

 

[CuriousMe]

Wettek,

I guess my question is why should your diving doc's opinion outweigh my diving doc's opinion?

I take my health seriously, I don't take stupid risks and there's nothing down there worth dying for. I wouldn't dive without the OK from my Diving Doc (who BTW has actually seen me and know's my case...he didn't just get a phone call from the dive shop about a hypothetical). That being said....I'll keep my med history in my logbook, my DAN tag on me and tell the shop what I think they need to know for my two tank rec dives.

Peace,
Cathie

 

[DivemasterSteve]

but here on the Great Barrier Reef, the overwhelming majority of operators try to do the right thing by their clients.

i agree with you there sir, i'm sure the majority of "all" operators try to do the right thing but i agree with CuriousMe in her post... why should your diving doc's opinion outweigh my diving doc's opinion when MY doc has seen me and put his hands on me and your doc is ONLY going by what YOU tell him on the phone. to me YOU are the one saying you know more about me than my doc does and i'm sorry sir, you dont know ANYTHING about me.

thats why i wouldnt tell you anything if i was to pay my good hard earned money, fly half way around the world and then with YOU THINKING you know more than my doc does, you would get me stopped from diving.

thanks,
steve

 

[wettek]

i agree with you there sir, i'm sure the majority of "all" operators try to do the right thing but i agree with CuriousMe in her post... why should your diving doc's opinion outweigh my diving doc's opinion when MY doc has seen me and put his hands on me and your doc is ONLY going by what YOU tell him on the phone. to me YOU are the one saying you know more about me than my doc does and i'm sorry sir, you dont know ANYTHING about me.

thats why i wouldnt tell you anything if i was to pay my good hard earned money, fly half way around the world and then with YOU THINKING you know more than my doc does, you would get me stopped from diving.

thanks,
steve

Back off here Steve.
1- What I tell a dive doctor is exactly what you have put on your waiver, Not my interpretation of it.
2- It seems now that everybodies doctor is a dive doctor, which nobody mentioned earlier in the forum.
You bring me supporting paperwork from a properly accredited doctor, and it'll be a different ballgame
I don't need to be personally bagged for trying to be a responsible SAFE instructor

 

[CuriousMe]

Back off here Steve.
1- What I tell a dive doctor is exactly what you have put on your waiver, Not my interpretation of it.
2- It seems now that everybodies doctor is a dive doctor, which nobody mentioned earlier in the forum.
You bring me supporting paperwork from a properly accredited doctor, and it'll be a different ballgame
I don't need to be personally bagged for trying to be a responsible SAFE instructor

I don't think anyone was trying to bag you....I know I wasn't. I know that I was just stating the way I'm approaching this. I've heard to many stories of dive ops not checking with any kind of dive Doc and not caring if you have medical clearance from a dive Doc....If you mark anything down on their medical form....you just don't dive. For that reason, I won't risk sharing that knowledge.

However, now I know that when diving Down Under, I'll be able to take my med clearance and present it

Peace,
Cathie