Fitness To Dive
All divers should be free of conditions and illnesses that would negatively impact their safety and well-being underwater. The diving medical physician should be able to identify, treat and advise divers about illnesses and conditions that would cause them to be at increased risk for a diving accident.
Some reasons why a person should not be allowed to dive are as follows:
Disorders that lead to altered consciousness: conditions that produce reduced awareness or sedation from medication, drugs, marijuana or alcohol; fainting, heart problems and seizure activity.
Disorders that inhibit the "natural evolution of Boyle's Law": conditions or diseases that are associated with air trapping in closed spaces, such as sinuses, middle ear, lungs and gastrointestinal tract. Severe asthma is an example.
Disorders that may lead to erratic and irresponsible behavior: included here would be immaturity, psychiatric disorders, diving while under the influence of medications, drugs and alcohol or any medical disorder that results in cognitive defects.
Read more about this topic: Diving Medicine
Famous quotes containing the words fitness and/or dive:
“Parentage is a very important profession; but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of children.”
—George Bernard Shaw (18561950)
“I have no time to read newspapers. If you chance to live and move and have your being in that thin stratum in which the events which make the news transpirethinner than the paper on which it is printedthen these things will fill the world for you; but if you soar above or dive below that plane, you cannot remember nor be reminded of them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)