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Hello. There has been a lot of traffic on the net recently with regard to diabetes and the fitness to dive. As the person responsible for changing the ban on diabetics diving within the U.K., perhaps I could add my $0.02 (as the correspondence has been from the U.S. and S.A.). In the U.K. there was general acceptance that certain diabetics could dive without too many problems. This situation changed in 1975 with the death of a diver after a dive on the wreck "The Persier", which led to him being paralysed, owing to the fact that he was assumed to be just diabetic without being recompressed for DCI. He later committed suicide and his wife then sued the BSAC (British Sub-Aqua Club) and the local area health authority for negligence. This led to a ban on diving diabetics. In 1987, I reviewed the situation and came to the conclusion that there was probably no good reason for this ban. An article was published in the magazine "Diver" by myself, Peter Wilmshurst and David Lindsay to this effect. Since this time, certain diabetics have been allowed to dive within the BSAC. They have to fill in certain forms which ask about the diabetic's condition, the medication, any side-effects etc. They also provide rules that the diabetic, his/her buddy and the diving officer must follow. These forms are available from BSAC HQ or (if I have time) from me, as I designed them and continually update them. A further article concerning diving diabetics has been published in the South Pacific Underwater Medical Society's Journal (March 1994, pp. 11-13) with the above authors and Philip Bryson. I am pleased to say that three of the diving organisations within the U.K. have now adopted these rules (BSAC, the Sub-Aqua Association and the Scottish Sub-Aqua Club). Other countries, notably the Netherlands and Denmark are also considering following them. A database is kept of diving diabetics and so far, about 60 diabetics have registered with the scheme and about 750 hours underwater have been recorded. There has unfortunately been one death, in a man of about 65, but this was NOT (I repeat, and I have the pathologist's word for this), NOT due to hypoglycaemia. Two incidences of slight hypoglycaemia have been recorded and each time this has been dealt with using the procedures outlined in the articles mentioned above. I note that with this month's Alert Diver, DAN are thinking about this issue but they do not have a formal structure for diabetics in the way that we do. Perhaps this time the Brits are leading the world? I certainly do not know of any other diving organisations that permit diabetics to dive. My own view on diving and diabetes is that certain diabetics are safe to dive. The practice of diving medicine is about responsibly allowing people to dive if at all possible, rather than the attitude that is still expressed far too often, of "In theory it is dangerous, therefore do not dive". It is much easier to stop someone diving than it is to allow them to dive with the atten- dant risks (probably also safer on the medical insurance bills). However, we should, if at all possible, be enablers of people doing things rather than just stopping them because we do not understand the condition. I would emphasise that this is my own view, and NOT the official view of the National Diving Medical Committee here in the U.K. Sorry for occupying so much bandwidth. Chris. Edge, Chair, National Diving Medical Committee, U.K. *************************************************************** * Dr. Chris. Edge * Tel. +44-865-275-338 * * Glycobiology Institute * Fax. +44-865-275-216 * * Oxford University * e-mail chris@gl*.ox*.ac*.uk* * * South Parks Road * 100117.3646@co*.co* * * Oxford OX1 3QU U.K. * * ***************************************************************
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