Widow sues medical doctor and training company

[Freewillow]

@uncfpn. No criticism on my part. No problem with this. Just a HUGE doubd about this in some other countries, like mine - Belgium.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

I am pretty sure a DAN staff member will not provide a signature on a form, although they will give advice on the relation of that medical issue to diving. What they will do is recommend a physician in your area who is knowledgeable about diving.

Totally agree.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

I lead a very charmed life. I have no issues accessing folks who are knowledgable about diving.

My family doctor, dentist, dental surgeon, and dermatologist all dive. No such luck with the oncologist and endocrinologist, though.

Despite the physicians being divers, I would argue that that one point alone does not make them experts in dive physiology. Certainly, they may be, but the one doesn't make the other.

I've been diving with many physicians who were terrible divers and have dived with people who know no medicine but really understand diving.

Caveat emptor.

 

[Hawkwood]

Despite the physicians being divers, I would argue that that one point alone does not make them experts in dive physiology. Certainly, they may be, but the one doesn't make the other.

I've been diving with many physicians who were terrible divers and have dived with people who know no medicine but really understand diving.

Caveat emptor.

Oh please...I never said they were experts in diving phsyiology.

That being said, you have no idea what those folks that I deal with know, and more importantly know about me.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

Oh please...I never said they were experts in diving phsyiology.

That being said, you have no idea what those folks that I deal with know, and more importantly know about me.

I agree 100%

 

[EricTheDood]

The wife [snip] bought the scuba lessons! Case closed.

This will definitely carry a lot of weight. Without getting into facts or law, the reality is that legal proceedings are stressful and painful. Nobody wins these things. One side just loses a little bit less than the other.

It's sad for the wife because regardless of her intentions, the fact that she bought the lessons is going to come around and bite her in the you-know-where, and it's going to be hashed and rehashed multiple times. It'll be 3-4 years before she can really begin to heal.

 

[RandomGuy1]

Even that is unlikely in my limited experience. I'm a DAN member who called about the seemingly simple topic of seasickness medications and diving. They wouldn't give me an answer to my simple questions on the subject.

How common are doctors who specialize in diving medicine? I see folks on SB (as above) tell people to seek out such a doctor for evaluations all the time. However, the only ones I've actually heard of work in the dwindling number of hospitals who treat DCS with a chamber or at Duke. DAN doesn't even maintain information for dive physician referrals. The link on the page that mentions such a thing returns a 404 error. I ask in earnest, is a doctor who specializes in diving something that the average person can expect to find without getting onto an airplane? Living in Florida, I'm sure I could track one down. I'm wondering if it's a myth along the lines of the DAN giving medical advice myth.

Just emailed DAN yesterday and received a list of Dr's near my area. None really close though. I'm going to have to drive 1.5 hours. I used the send an email link from this page. DAN | Medical Referral Network

 

[Zalick]

As for me, more correctly I am a retired Instructor with about 25 years teaching experience and several years working as a volunteer at a hyperbaric chamber where I was involved in regular training dives and several treatment runs.

Read the article and all the posts. Nobody seemed to discuss or address the fact that the diver suffered an asthma attack during the dive on the previous day and had to abort and use a rescue inhaler. I'm not an instructor but I've been diving with lots of relatively inexperienced divers (without guides and I was the guide) and I would never let them dive again if they aborted due to an asthma attack. When I dive with new divers I also check their air every couple hundred PSI to gauge how much they are burning and make sure they don't get too low.

I'd be curious what you as an instructor, or other instructors on this thread, would do if you had a student who aborted the 4th dive of OW due to an asthma attack underwater. Would you let them dive again or tell them they need to see the doctor again and can come back on the next trip to complete certification? When I dive with known asthmatic divers, I make sure to ask them about their lungs after each dive and monitor they air during the dive, checking gauge and breathing rate, unless they are experienced, in which case I just pay attention as a buddy should. If they aborted a dive due to asthma I would recommend they see a doctor again before diving and refuse to be their buddy again until cleared.

 

[Steve_C]

He was 51 and she would be roughly the same age.

Not true of a lot of doctors and dentists I know of. At 51 he could well be on number 2 or 3 that looks better in the sports car.

 

[scubadada]

My wife has had moderate asthma for many years. It is generally very well controlled, but she does have exacerbations, particularly during and after a viral respiratory tract infection. She has been diving for 15 years and has never developed worsening of her asthma while diving. She avoids diving if she has had to use her rescue inhaler the day of or the day prior to diving. She has missed only a couple dives applying this restriction.

Using a rule like this, the diver in question should never have been diving. Exercise induced asthma would make it difficult to be a diver.
Asthma & Diving — DAN | Divers Alert Network — Medical Dive Article