Posted by Aaron on February 03, 2003 at 17:30:07:
In Reply to: PADI bashing from a PADI supporter posted by Aaron on January 30, 2003 at 17:17:09:
If she had just screwed up and made a mistake, I could accept a short suspension and retest. However, because she tried to cover it up, the suspension ought to be in years or permanent.
The DM should also take some heat on this. PADI makes it very clear that DMs can't do tours on a student's 1st open water dive. In fact, this was a question on a recent DM test. Beyond that, losing a student in warm-water, high-viz conditions is unacceptable.
But the bulk of the punishment should be awarded to PADI. I assume they published this article to show the dire consequences of failing to follow PADI standards and to encourage other PADI pros to learn from this example. But, the light treatment shown here just lets other incompetent instructors and DMs off the hook. Even if they do get caught (or caught for a 2nd time) and then try to lie their way out of it, PADI will make sure they can continue.