hmmm. Interesting incident.
Let's break it down.
The Rescue: There is no right way or wrong way to do a rescue. She sounds like a very inexperienced diver (I am guessing not a student or the instructor would have checked the diver's equipment). If not a student, then the diver is accountable for her own equipment. The buddy would be the second level of accountability in which he failed. The DM saw the panick and got the diver to the surface as safely as possible. Kudos to the DM. Diver and buddy should seek retraining or turn in their ccard. Sounds like the diver will probably never dive again, anyway.
Post Rescue: The diver is back on the boat and physically OK. Obviously very emotionally shaken. In any event, there was a rescue on the captain's boat -- albeit not an emergency. Let's think about what the captain was thinking -- assuming he didn't want to watch he afternoon football game. If this episode escalates into DCS or some other shock or trauma, I have to react quickly and we go from a non-emergency to an emergency. Or, I can let everyone dive and hope it does not escalate. Once they are off my boat, they aren't my problem. I think I will error on the side of conservative and get them back while there is no emergency. The captain knows full well that there is a possibility of physiological trauma that could be delayed. This woman who aspirated water should go to the Urgent Care nonetheless. I have a tough time faulting the captain on this one. Because, what if something did occur 20 minutes or 30 minutes down the road. Time is everything in an emergency. I am not going to say this was the wrong call. However, as a diver, I can empathize why you feel the way you do.
Post Return: The crew may not have the authority to give away credit. However, the captain should have informed the shop of the incident. In which case, the shop should have contacted all the clients and offered them some sort of explanation and reonciliation - such as a full credit. Bad crisis management is a great way to lose repeat customers. Additionally, the family in which this incident surrounds should have been a lot more gracious than it sounds.
They say there is no such thing as a bad day of diving. That's arguable. I will say, this day could have been a lot worse. Again, Kudos to the DM ... no matter what he did or didn't do, the end result is a diver who could have died and came out of it alive and well.
jcf
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