Insurance Claim Denied, But I'm a New Person

Pre COVID, I was diving in the Bahamas and developed a skin rash, which the boat captain thought might be skin bends and called DAN. They referred me to a doctor in the Bahamas who said the rash was caused by my wetsuit being too tight. I assumed DAN had vetted him.

A year later, and 10 pounds lighter, I joined a group of friends for a 10-day liveaboard in Socorro, Mexico. I had dive insurance and purchased $6000 of trip insurance from DAN.

The rash reappeared after my second dive. I contacted DAN, and they told me that if I went into the water again, they would not cover me, saying I had been warned about this previously while pretty much blaming me for not fixing the problem. Since I had lost 10 pounds, and my wetsuit was roomy, I thought I had, though someone on the boat suggested the cause might be PFO, a hole-in-the heart, which limited nitrogen off-gassing. Twenty-five hours from the mainland, I sat on the boat for ten days while everyone else went diving with manta rays and dolphins. It sucked.

Upon my return home, I filed an insurance claim for the $6,000.00 trip. DAN, that is their insurance carrier, denied my claim. After all, I flew on the plane, stayed on the boat, and ate the meals, though I might be entitled to the cost of the dives. The dive company wrote an extensive letter detailing each dive I missed and the price. In the end, I received $2,000.00

Regardless, I'm very fortunate. I visited a heart specialist who discovered a PFO (patent formula ovale). I had lived my entire life on 75 percent airflow, getting winded hiking up hills, running, dancing, or by any exertion. I had a 30-minute surgery, and the benefits were life-changing. I have been on many dives since without issue. My heart surgeon said how lucky I was to find it this way, as most people don't discover they have a PFO until after their first stroke!

Sandy Stinson, Santa Barbara, CA

PFOs are more common than you might think, but they may be asymptomatic. If you want to read more about PFOs, go to: https://tinyurl.com/y9vs2nmh and https://tinyurl.com/2uvcd2s6