An Open Letter of Personal Perspective to the Diving Industry by NetDoc

[The Chairman]

So I'm asking again, can you please point us to the evidence that the child's serious asthmatic condition was a major contributing factor to his death? Thank you.

His tank still had about 500 psi in it. He didn't run out of air.

 

[kendallpg]

yawn... diving standards ISO 24801-X, ISO 24802-X and ISO 24803, and snorkeling standards ISO 13289 and ISO 13970 - go fetch them and read me during the xmas holiday downtime

---------- Post added December 19th, 2014 at 08:54 AM ----------


having the contact information and sending questionnaires to 100% of participants are two different things - the point i'm trying to convey is that going to 100% of DSD would be ovekill

The questionnaire was emailed to me and my son. It would not be hard, or overkill, to create a program that automatically emailed the questionnaire to every DSD. I am sure it was an automated email that we received.

 

[The Chairman]

The deception is amazingly widespread. I was in the pool today for Diveheart doing DSDs for the disabled. I was shocked when one of the divers asked me "Did you hear how PADI threw that instructor under the bus?" Wow. The power of a lie on the interwebs is staggering. I asked for details and was shocked that they had been inflated almost beyond reason. Sheeple really bought into this crap. I kind of want to send them a letter telling them I'm Nigerian and my rich uncle just died and would they please help me get his money out of the country. That or sell them a bridge in Arizona. Or perhaps my wallet just got stolen so I'm broke and I'm stranded here in Key Largo and... oh wait: that's kind of true!

:caveman:​

 

[kendallpg]

By having the questions be about whether specific standards were followed; for example, "Were there at least X instructors for every Y students?"

Those types of questions were on the surveys. I tried to find the emails to my surveys. I just did the DSD in November. (I am certified but had to do a DSD to dive with my son while he did his DSD)

 

[tursiops]

Those types of questions were on the surveys. I tried to find the emails to my surveys. I just did the DSD in November. (I am certified but had to do a DSD to dive with my son while he did his DSD)

That is certainly not required under any standards. i can see how a dive shop might demand that, because your presence in the DSD counts against the ratios so it might have prevented another person from actually doing a DSD.

 

[kendallpg]

That is certainly not required under any standards. i can see how a dive shop might demand that, because your presence in the DSD counts against the ratios so it might have prevented another person from actually doing a DSD.

The only reason they made me do the DSD was to make sure there was room for me to dive with him. They take a max of 4 divers per DSD and if 3 others had signed up then I would not have been able to dive with him. It was my choice... and there was no way my wife was going to let him go underwater without me being with him. As it turned out we were the only divers on the dive with the instructor.
BTW... the instructor did a great job... both in the pool and on the dive.

 

[Ayisha]

His tank still had about 500 psi in it. He didn't run out of air.

And the surviving child said that the victim's reg was out of his mouth under the surface and as he dropped back down. That points to drowning, not necessarily running out of air.

So we're still waiting for this information that shows that his asthmatic condition, if he was in fact diagnosed as having asthma, contributed to the victim's death.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I think PADI was spot on by expelling the instructor immediately once the fact that he blatantly violated standards shown below in bold taken directly from the PADI Instructor Manual. There are other standards he violated as well. The standard below is specifically for the DSD program.

Do not leave participants unattended, either at the surface
or underwater.


• Position yourself so that you or a certified assistant can
make immediate physical contact with, adjust buoyancy
for, and render assistance to, participants.

• Continually observe participants with only the brief,
periodic interruptions needed to lead the dive and to
provide assistance to individual divers.

I think the PADI DSD program is fine as written and I also think instructors have to consider how many DSD divers they will take in the water with them depending upon water conditions such as visibility and bottom composition. The standard I refer to is shown below in bold. This standard applies to ALL PADI diver training programs.

Maximum limits – Standards for ratios and depths are listed
as maximum limits. This means that you must apply sound
judgment in determining what is appropriate for training each
time you conduct a course or program. It’s your professional
responsibility to conduct a risk assessment by evaluating
variables such as water conditions – temperature, visibility
and water movement – entries/exits, the individual abilities of
each of your student divers, the number of certified assistants
available, your abilities and limitations, etc., to determine
what ratio will fit the situation; reducing the ratio from the
maximum, if needed. Conduct this risk assessment before
the dive, and continue to assess and evaluate during the dive,
taking into account changing variables.


The letter that started this entire Charlie Foxtrot was ill-timed so as to cast suspicion upon its' real intent.

The letter being posted on the internet was also ill-advised IMO. I think it is rare or non-existent that these issues can be properly put to rest in this "court of public opinion".

We at the NSS-CDS recently had a QA action filed with us and the accusations were aired on the internet, and the instructor named before the ink was dry on the written complaint, before we had a chance to interview the first witness. All the public outing did was make the investigation more difficult, made the emotions that were running high run even higher and served no purpose other than to slander the good name of a cave instructor who was eventually cleared of ANY wrongdoing.

 

[The Chairman]

And the surviving child said that the victim's reg was out of his mouth under the surface and as he dropped back down. That points to drowning, not necessarily running out of air.

A reasonable explanation for the reg being out of the kids mouth would be what? Quite possibly he died before the reg left his mouth. Maybe that's even quite probably. I'm not a medical doctor, but it doesn't take one to comprehend that any person with compromised respiration should not be diving. The point is: the family seems to be trying to place blame anywhere but on themselves. It was a Darwinesque decision to allow him to dive in that condition. Even if the instructor were right by him, he might not have survived the episode that killed him. That's not to excuse the instructor abandoning him, but just to point out that there were a number of poorly made decisions that day. No matter how the court case comes out, the parents will be living with their decision for the rest of their lives. So will all of the other participants.

 

[Ayisha]

A reasonable explanation for the reg being out of the kids mouth would be what?

Possibly panic? We don't know?

Quite possibly he died before the reg left his mouth. Maybe that's even quite probably.

The other boy said that the victim was looking at him and had his hand out for help, and his reg was out of his mouth. That does not sound like he was dead. But why make an assumption?

I'm not a medical doctor, but it doesn't take one to comprehend that any person with compromised respiration should not be diving.

That however has not been the general consensus of dive medicine doctors in decades. There are many articles on asthma and diving. The gist of them are that asthma does not necessarily contraindicate diving. The determination of whether someone with asthma is fit to dive is made on a case by case basis and involves, among other things, lung volume, severity and triggers of the asthma, how well controlled it is, etc.

My point is, why are we assuming facts not in evidence? And why are we assigning blame to the victim or his family, especially since the source of that blame has not even been confirmed? Why are we assigning blame at all?