Hyperbaric-chamber staff may claim to be DAN
physicians or medics. This is at best misleading and at worst
blatantly dishonest. With the exception of Dr. Dario Gomez
in Cozumel, Mexico, DAN does not employ physicians to
provide medical services in any country outside the U.S.
DAN staff consults with local medical professionals to make
sure divers get the best care possible. When you call the
DAN Emergency Hotline (+1-919-684-9111), we can provide
up-to-date information on local medical services, but the
care providers do not work for DAN. If you are ever told
otherwise, immediately be suspicious; that might be the first
of several lies you are told.
Lately we have seen repeated instances of diagnosis and
treatment plans being influenced by financial benefit to
the facility rather than by the medical needs of patients.
In our experience, most cases of decompression illness
(
DCI) are either resolved or stabilized with one to three
hyperbaric-chamber treatments. In severe cases, more
treatments may be appropriate, but the patient can usually
fly safely and resume treatment at a facility closer to home.
If your symptoms worsen or persist without improvement,
further diagnostic testing may be warranted to identify
other possible causes. More of the same treatment is seldom
the answer. If repeated chamber treatments are being
recommended, it’s a good time to call the DAN Emergency
Hotline. Perhaps further treatment will be recommended,
but it may be better to arrange a transfer to a medical facility
with a broader range of diagnostic and treatment capabilities.
In reviewing insurance claims made by some of these
unscrupulous chamber operations, we have seen exorbitant
fees for basic services, invoices for services that were
never provided and multiple billings for the same services.
While most facilities offer services for reasonable and
customary fees, those with questionable billing practices
increase the costs for everyone. Just as Medicare fraud costs
the U.S. billions of dollars each year, on a much smaller
scale, avaricious chamber operations may charge rates
well in excess of industry standards. Ambulance charges
can likewise be outrageously inflated — even when the
“
ambulance” is little more than a taxi driver rewarded
by a chamber operator to divert accident victims to one
treatment facility over another.
We have seen unethical demands for advance payment
of copays and deductibles. DAN’s dive accident insurance
program guarantees the payment of 100 percent of treatment
costs; members should never be required to pay out of
pocket. Reputable chamber operators know this and look
solely to DAN for payment once presented with a member’s
DAN insurance credentials. Finding yourself immersed in a
corrupt system is difficult, and again we urge you to reach
out to DAN for clarification of financial procedures — just as
you would for medical treatments. DAN is just a phone call
away 24 hours a day, every day.
If a medical facility ever restricts access to a phone to
call DAN, consider that a huge red flag. A DAN member
or a traveling companion must contact DAN to allow us to
arrange necessary payments or guarantees. Calling the DAN
Emergency Hotline ensures we know you had an accident,
and it initiates the procedure for payment of related costs.
Be aware that even the most basic level of DAN membership
provides for evacuation from an accident site as long as it’s at
least 50 miles away from your home. Unless we are engaged
early in the process, our ability to help and to compensate
members fully may be compromised.
If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem
as a nail. This can be true among providers of hyperbaric
medicine; if your only available tool for treating scuba divers
is a recompression chamber, your inclination may be to
treat all injured divers for DCI. But prematurely concluding
that symptoms require chamber treatment can delay proper
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STEPHEN FRINK