Is an Online Dive Medical Legitimate?

Fair question, and the right one to ask before you pay anyone for a medical signature, including us. The dive shop is going to put your form in a binder and take it at face value; you are the one whose health it describes. Here is what the diver medical system actually requires, what separates a real online evaluation from a rubber stamp, and how to check any form, ours included, in seconds.

What the form actually asks of a physician

The document your shop needs is the Diver Medical Physician’s Evaluation Form (form 10346 EN), part of the screening system built by the Diver Medical Screen Committee in association with the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, DAN in the US, DAN Europe, and the hyperbaric medicine division at UC San Diego. It is the same form behind PADI, SSI, NAUI and most other training agencies’ medical requirements.

The form asks a physician for an opinion of your medical suitability, and the result is binary. The approval line reads, in the form’s own words, “no conditions that I consider incompatible with recreational scuba diving or freediving.” There is no conditional clearance and no maybe. The physician signs it with their name, specialty and clinic details. That signature, under a real license, is the entire currency of the document.

What the standards do and do not require

The standards require a licensed physician to evaluate you and sign. They do not prescribe the room the evaluation happens in. The official medical guidance that accompanies the form describes what the physician should cover: your history, a review of systems, and examination points relevant to diving, things like lung history, cardiovascular risk, equalization, seizure risk and medications.

For many flagged histories, that evaluation is genuinely coverable remotely: your records carry the objective data, and a live video visit carries the history and the conversation. For some conditions it is not. A history that needs a hands-on physical, spirometry that has not been done, or cardiac workup cannot be conjured over video, and an honest telehealth service says so and refers you. The format is not the test of legitimacy. The evaluation is.

The difference between an evaluation and a rubber stamp

Whoever you use, online or in an office, a legitimate dive medical looks like this:

A named physician. The form shows who signed it: name, specialty, clinic and contact details, and the license behind them. If a service will not tell you who is signing before you pay, that is your answer.

A live evaluation. No clearance from a questionnaire alone. If nobody speaks to you, nobody evaluated you.

Your records, actually read. A yes answer comes with history, and the physician should want to see it: spirometry for asthma, a medication list for blood pressure, an operative note for surgery.

The ability to say no. A real evaluation has outcomes other than approved. Ask what the service refers, and what happens to your money when it does.

A checkable document. A form the shop can verify beats a form the shop has to trust.

How DiveSlip runs the evaluation

DiveSlip is the dive medical service of SickSlip P.A. You flag your yes answers on the Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire, upload the records they relate to, and meet Dr. Adam Z. Kawalek, a board-certified internist and PADI certified diver, on a scheduled video visit of about 15 minutes. He reviews your records before the visit, and when clearance is appropriate the completed, signed form is in your inbox the same day, under his own name, NPI and state license. The whole thing is $91 flat.

The refusal path is published, not hidden: cardiac history, a collapsed lung, seizure history, insulin-treated diabetes and pregnancy are referred to in-person dive medicine. The intake stops those cases at a referral screen before payment, and a paid evaluation that ends in a referral refunds 100% automatically. If you need in-person care, the DAN referral network at dan.org can help you find a dive medicine physician near you.

Verification a dive shop can do in seconds

Every DiveSlip evaluation prints a document ID and a QR code. Scanning the code, or entering the ID at diveslip.co/verify, brings up the document’s verification record. Shops and operators can also call (855) 346-3483, our verification and support line. We built this because a form that can be checked protects everyone: the diver carrying it, the shop filing it, and the physician who signed it. If you are an instructor or shop reading this, please do verify. It takes less time than filing the form.

The honest answer

So: is an online dive medical legitimate? Yes, when it is an actual evaluation: a licensed, named physician, your records read, a live visit, a binary decision, and a document anyone can verify. That is the standard the agencies’ own form sets, and it is the standard any service you pay should meet. If your own doctor already declined the form, here is why that happens and what to do about it, and if you are staring at the questionnaire wondering what your yes answers mean, start with the PADI medical form guide.