Before we booked our liveaboard dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef, I told them about DH’s heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery this April. They said they needed a letter from his cardiologist clearing him for SCUBA diving. We asked his cardiologist and got the letter, then provided it to the booking agency before committing. The operator confirmed the documentation was sufficient so we booked the trip.
Last week, I sent in our passenger information forms with all of our details including DH’s medical history and cardiologist letter. They’ve now come back and said DH can’t be accepted for the cruise without clearance from a dive medicine specialist.
Obviously this would have been helpful to know when we booked the trip 2 months ago. The closest dive medicine specialist is about 140 miles away, and DH can’t get an appointment until 11/30. This is beyond the final payment deadline for the cruise so I have asked for a delay of that deadline as well as free cancellation if this dive medicine test should prove unsuccessful, since it was our intent to proactively satisfy all medical requirements before we booked and we were told that we had done so before booking.
We certainly don’t want to risk DH’s health. I’m curious though - if DH’s cardiologist, who has been seeing him since shortly after his surgery and has run follow-up tests on him, feels that he is fit for diving, what additional information/testing would a dive medicine specialist add? We thought we were protecting DH’s health sufficiently by relying on his cardiologist. If anyone knows more about what these dive medicine specialists can assess that DH’s cardiologist is less well equipped to evaluate, I’d appreciate your insight.
Last week, I sent in our passenger information forms with all of our details including DH’s medical history and cardiologist letter. They’ve now come back and said DH can’t be accepted for the cruise without clearance from a dive medicine specialist.
Obviously this would have been helpful to know when we booked the trip 2 months ago. The closest dive medicine specialist is about 140 miles away, and DH can’t get an appointment until 11/30. This is beyond the final payment deadline for the cruise so I have asked for a delay of that deadline as well as free cancellation if this dive medicine test should prove unsuccessful, since it was our intent to proactively satisfy all medical requirements before we booked and we were told that we had done so before booking.
We certainly don’t want to risk DH’s health. I’m curious though - if DH’s cardiologist, who has been seeing him since shortly after his surgery and has run follow-up tests on him, feels that he is fit for diving, what additional information/testing would a dive medicine specialist add? We thought we were protecting DH’s health sufficiently by relying on his cardiologist. If anyone knows more about what these dive medicine specialists can assess that DH’s cardiologist is less well equipped to evaluate, I’d appreciate your insight.
