>In any event (and I'll ask them tomorrow) at a purely personal level, why
>should anyone who contemplates diving feel that a diving  medical is an
>"evil"?
>Strike
Absolutely, in fact some places are VERY strict about medicals. Dive Tribe
in El-Gouna (Egypt) will not allow you to dive at all without seeing their
local doctor if you have answered yes to any of the questions on the
standard medical questionnaire --can screw your first day of diving !!!!
But the consultation with their doc is free.
A dive medical in the UK is pretty straighforward & not very costly, and at
the end of the day it would be nice to know if you really do have a problem
that means you shouldn't dive.
Having said that, I have a chronic back problem but never answer yes to
this on the medical questionnaire.

Andy Johnson
Senior Product Support Specialist
UK Hardware Front Office
MGA-19 Meudon House
Farnborough
e-mail [log in to unmask]
tel. ext:  01252 55 8168 int: 29 36 58