Unknown Diver airlifted to hospital - Venice, Florida

[DandyDon]

Diver in Venice airlifted to hospital after ‘in-water emergency’​

VENICE, Fla. (WWSB) - A scuba diver suffered an in-water emergency Saturday morning, Venice Fire Rescue reported Monday.

The victim, was taken by ambulance to Venice Municipal Airport to meet a helicopter so they could be flown to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota for further treatment.

“The severity of the medical condition warranted Bayflite air medical transport service utilized to expedite the transportation, and one of their flight nurses taking over medical care,” from paramedics, Venice Fire Rescue said Monday on social media.

 

[kcc6001]

My wife and I were in Venice this weekend diving, Inexperienced diver didn’t check their air supply and was told they were good to go by the boat crew, hopped in and sunk to the bottom. Her husband asked where she was a couple of minutes later and was told she went in. He found her on the bottom after about 5 minutes. Same charter company has lost 5 divers, died, in the last year to 18 months and the Coast Guard still hasn’t pulled their ticket.

 

[TostitoBandito]

Yeeesh. Hope she survives, and hope they take enough money from that operator or their insurance company to put them out of business. Yes divers sign waivers and are ultimately responsible for their safety, and yes I'm sure all of us have been handed a not-full tank by boat crew before (and caught it), but operators have to take some level of responsibility to not be blatantly negligent like this. Especially if they have a track record and body count as you indicated.

 

[NothingClever]

All of this is so preventable with a simple pre-dive safety check by the DM. That doesn’t relieve the diver of his individual responsibility to operate his own equipment but it prevents the catastrophic outcome for those who are negligent.

I can’t fathom for the life of me how some operators (and divers!) think they’re too cool for or that they’ve somehow “graduated” from a 60 second sequence.

Even though I take pride in being thorough in doing my own gas analysis, setting my DC, reg testing, LPI function, can light check, etc, I’m grateful for charter operators that run a brief but complete pre-dive safety check and I strive to set a good example.

These are BASICS!

 

[wgw04024]

Dive op?

 

[Outbound]

If what @kcc6001 wrote about this incident is correct, then there were a LOT of screw ups, and not just by the operator. Yes, crew should always check that a diver’s air is on before splashing. But it’s 100% the diver’s responsibility to a) make sure they got a proper fill, b) make sure their gear is set up properly, c) do a buddy check, d) make sure they are properly weighted (and not overweighted), and e) descend with their buddy. I don’t know what, exactly, happened in this incident, but why wasn’t this woman able to swim her rig back up to the surface if her air wasn’t turned on? Where was her buddy? Sounds like he was on the boat for at least a few more minutes, if indeed her spouse was her buddy. If not, where was her actual buddy? Why didn’t she tell her buddy she was hopping in, and why didn’t she wait for him/her to descend together?

 

[NothingClever]

But it’s 100% the diver’s responsibility to…

I don’t think anybody disputes that but unfortunately that’s not likely to change the reality of who shows up at boats week in and week out up and down both sides of Florida.

It’s no sweat off the DM’s brow (a good one anyways) to catch that one individual who is inexperienced, hungover, untrained, unfocused, etc.

Until the prime certifying agencies put more rigor back into their instruction and actually hold people back from their certification, we’ll continue seeing the ‘Margaritaville divers’.

 

[TostitoBandito]

But it’s 100% the diver’s responsibility

No it's not 100% on the diver, both the diver and the operator have some combination of the responsibility/accountability here. Yes all divers should have that attitude that it's all on them as it promotes safety and self-reliance, but operators are also responsible for conducting their operations in a safe manner and for ensuring the safety of their guests. Handing a new diver an empty tank and allowing them to jump in the water solo is unacceptable any day of the week and is potentially negligent legally (that'll be up to FL courts). Liability waivers don't protect operators from their own negligence or incompetence, just the diver's.

And yes I agree that the industry and certification agencies (mainly PADI) need to do a much better job of self-regulating, and at the same time the state, local, and federal authorities need to have some degree of common sense regulatory enforcement to weed out the idiots. There will always be resistance to regulation, unless accidents and bad PR start hitting operators and PADI's bottom line somehow. I'm not optimistic.

 

[Outbound]

No it's not 100% on the diver, both the diver and the operator have some combination of the responsibility/accountability here. Yes all divers should have that attitude that it's all on them as it promotes safety and self-reliance, but operators are also responsible for conducting their operations in a safe manner and for ensuring the safety of their guests. Handing a new diver an empty tank and allowing them to jump in the water solo is unacceptable any day of the week and is potentially negligent legally (that'll be up to FL courts). Liability waivers don't protect operators from their own negligence or incompetence, just the diver's.

And yes I agree that the industry and certification agencies (mainly PADI) need to do a much better job of self-regulating, and at the same time the state, local, and federal authorities need to have some degree of common sense regulatory enforcement to weed out the idiots. There will always be resistance to regulation, unless accidents and bad PR start hitting operators and PADI's bottom line somehow. I'm not optimistic.

We don't know the specifics of this case, other than what kcc6001 wrote, but even if she was handed an empty tank, she should have discovered that immediately upon setting up her gear and checking her air pressure. At one time or another just about all of us have been given a partial fill or a near-empty tank. It happens. But we notice it immediately, inform the crew, and get another tank. Or she splashed with her tank valve off. The crew should definitely be checking that every diver has their air turned fully on before they hop in the water, but that is an additional check beyond the diver checking him/herself and the buddy confirming it.

And why are you jumping on PADI for this? We have no idea which agency this diver got her certification from. And even if it was PADI, nowhere in their training materials does it say that divers should not check that their air is turned on, should not check their air pressure, should dive overweighted, or should dive solo without proper certification and equipment. Again, we don't know what happened in this case so I'm making some assumptions about the possibilities (for all we know it could have been a medical issue underwater, although the lack of a buddy in the water is still problematic), but all of the things I listed could have and should have been avoided by the diver herself.

 

[Nemrod]

There are many divers including a bunch here on scubaboard who absolutely will throw a fit (or even a punch) if somebody touches their valves. So just hardly little more than a week ago, I saw a diver go in with their air off. In Cozumel. And this diver had repeatedly told the crew not to touch their gear despite this being a semi-valet service. Personally I am okay with the crew handling my gear and a last pre-dive valve on check. And just before going in, everyone, should every dive take a breath from both primary and secondary while watching the spg needle to deflect or go to zero to verify enough air is available to support life. And most of the time inflate a BC prior (though negative drops are often required in some locals).

Such useless injuries or deaths are just so sad and upsetting to learn of. Always check your air before going in. Always.