ugh...getting a training medical form

[bradlw]

So
I'm thinking forward to someday getting my kids into an OW training class and I will simultaneously take a refresher along with them while I "audit" their class.
So, since I'll be doing training to I took a look at the medical form. If I'm honest I have to check a few boxes. Gerd, high cholesterol, maybe some other minor thing, but the catch was surgery. i just had surgery a few weeks ago (Gerd+ hiatal hernia repair) so i had the form in hand when I went in for my 1 week follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Actually with his PA. She said (as did the surgeon when i asked) that she has no problem with me diving after my recovery but she refused to sign the form! Said I need to go to my primary car doc since he knows me better. I'm just frustrated because the only reason I need the doc to sign is because of the GERD which is now theoretically fixed and the recent surgery which my regular doc knows nothing about!
so one to-do item left floating for the future. ugh

 

[VikingDives]

So
I'm thinking forward to someday getting my kids into an OW training class and I will simultaneously take a refresher along with them while I "audit" their class.
So, since I'll be doing training to I took a look at the medical form. If I'm honest I have to check a few boxes. Gerd, high cholesterol, maybe some other minor thing, but the catch was surgery. i just had surgery a few weeks ago (Gerd+ hiatal hernia repair) so i had the form in hand when I went in for my 1 week follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Actually with his PA. She said (as did the surgeon when i asked) that she has no problem with me diving after my recovery but she refused to sign the form! Said I need to go to my primary car doc since he knows me better. I'm just frustrated because the only reason I need the doc to sign is because of the GERD which is now theoretically fixed and the recent surgery which my regular doc knows nothing about!
so one to-do item left floating for the future. ugh

I've run with a cardiologist and a surgeon. It's frustrating, but really your PCP should know everything that's going on with you, not just the little slice of the pie that a specialist would have...

 

[Scubagolf]

I am 72, had gall bladder surgery 5 weeks ago, and just last week my surgeon released me to full activity. I sent the dive medical release to my primary care doctor with a stamped return envelope with a cover letter stating the above about the recent surgery. My doctor signed it and had it mailed back to me.

 

[MidOH]

I hate it to. Gatekeeper nonsense.

I have no medical history. This is just a waste of my time, and makes me no safer. It's so silly. If Im a mess, I just find a doctor thatll sign off on anything. Theres no less than a dozen old, fat, train wrecks on every warm water boat Ive been on. They could keel over at any time.

I dont think Ill need one until AN/DP. Everything before that, I can find a LDS that needs no form.

 

[gamon]

Simple. Be dishonest, don't check the boxes, accept the risk.

Save diving.

 

[tursiops]

I dont think Ill need one until AN/DP. Everything before that, I can find a LDS that needs no form.

You'll need one for any in-water class you take, no matter how much you beat your chest.

 

[bradlw]

yeah the primary should know everything about me in theory...but the only reasons for the need for a doc's signature is 1) the surgery and 2) the thing that the surgery fixed
it's not a doc signature saying my ears are fine...or anything else!

Simple. Be dishonest, don't check the boxes, accept the risk.

Save diving.

that's actually what the surgeon's PA kind of implied! wow

 

[gamon]

that's actually what the surgeon's PA kind of implied! wow

There's no wow about it. It's just how it is. Accept the risk yourself, or don't dive.

 

[drrich2]

Actually with his PA. She said (as did the surgeon when i asked) that she has no problem with me diving after my recovery but she refused to sign the form!

There's an old adage, 'Where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit.' To you, it's about signing off on a technicality so you can do something you want that appears low risk to you.

To her, it may look like signing off making herself (and the surgeon) potentially liable in a malpractice suit if you are seriously injured or die, and someone alleges she was negligent in signing off on you.

Physicians are often hit up to provide 'return to work' clearances for jobs where the physician has little knowledge of the demands the worker faces on the job. To the patient and employer, it's a technicality. To the physician, it's a liability hazard.

I'm in the analogy mood. Imagine someone tries to give you a lottery ticket, for free, but instead of a big payout, if you 'win' they'll come back and shoot you in the head. Even if your odds of 'winning' are very remote, you won't want to take that ticket, and you'll avoid it if you can. It may be a tiny risk, but a physician or APRN practice takes on a great many tiny (and sometimes not so tiny) risks, and they add up over the course of a career.

 

[formernuke]

If I was either of your doctors I would gladly sign it, AFTER YOU RECOVERED. Anything else is just putting there career at risk.

I ran into a similar situation. I waited till the injury healed before dropping off the forms.