AOW near-drowning

[stefo2]

Sorry, I didn't mean to question that her migraine may have been the cause of her losing consciousness etc. It it is the sudden sinking (and the missing mask) that I find odd and would like to hear more about. This was at the surface, before the dive even started, and they had just done a weight check; she seems to have had air in her BCD, as she was obviously positive at the surface, so must have dumped it at some stage.

I also understood that the OP never talked to her again, but he continued the course and talked to ther people - and I cannot imagine that the incident was nver brought up in their conversation afterwards.

 

[tatek]

I suspect (again, this is just educated speculation) that she did not actually lose consciousness on the surface but panicked, possibly mishandling her inflator valve and losing positive boyancy. This could also explain the missing mask and regulator. A migraine would have contributed to the stress of the dive. Migraines are tricky things, as Leejnd has noted (some complex migraines can cause almost stroke-like symptoms).
It is worth noting that drowning people often slip under the water with little fanfare and no apparent panic (no thrashing or yelling). There is some excellent video shot at Orchard Beach in New York a few decades ago that shows this. This was (and still is) a crowded beach with a steep drop-off. Drowings and near-drownings were happening within arm's length of other bathers because they were completely unaware that the victim was in trouble. Cameras mounted on each lifeguard stand captured many of these incidents and helped identify an identifiable pattern of gentle bobbing that happened right before the victim slipped under. My buddy bobbed a few times before going under water, which is one of the things that leads me to believe that she was conscious on the surface.

 

[ba_hiker]

Awesome

I find this report very encouraging.

Diver called the dive, a bit of discussion and then headed out of the 'pool'. Lots of support in the water, when you noticed her gone. you, asst instructors and nearby divers join in. The various DMs and others performed rapidly and professionally. Adequate emergency supplies, medical eqpt and O2 was available. The buddy survived, and given the circumstances, probably had a good long term outcome.

Good to see that the relative competency of those involved was so high. Congratulations to all.

 

[openmindOW]

I find this report very encouraging.

Diver called the dive, a bit of discussion and then headed out of the 'pool'. Lots of support in the water, when you noticed her gone. you, asst instructors and nearby divers join in. The various DMs and others performed rapidly and professionally.

I agree. This situation could have easily ended very differently.

Frankly, when a certified diver says she is surface swimming into shore while swimming in a fresh water lake in good condtions, divers generally assume that she will be fine. And 99.9% of the time, she will be.

 

[tatek]

I agree. This situation could have easily ended very differently.

Frankly, when a certified diver says she is surface swimming into shore while swimming in a fresh water lake in good condtions, divers generally assume that she will be fine. And 99.9% of the time, she will be.

I think that this incident was a useful illustration of the principle that 99.9% is not the same as 100%. Many of us do things in and out the water that will go well 99.9% of the time without being ready for the other 0.1%. Doing 5-10 things that will go right 99.9% of the time on each dive adds up to a lot of "rolls of the dice" for a regular diver; sooner or later something will go wrong. These events are sufficiently rare to allow us to get comfortable, so it takes a conscious effort to remain prepared.
I agree that a lot of things went right and a lot of people performed well. The outcome could have been much worse, but could also have been stopped before it became a near-drowning.

 

[Leejnd]

Y'know, in thinking about this incident, I have to say the one thing that troubles me the most is that an instructor tried to talk a student into continuing a dive when she said she "wasn't feeling well". You did bring this up as one of the things that went wrong - and personally, I think it's the PRIMARY thing that went wrong. Basically, that's the equivalent of a student thumbing a dive and an instructor ignoring it. Totally unacceptable instructor behavior.

And what makes it even more disturbing is the fact that the student was already health-impaired. I hate to keep harping on the migraine issue, but I can't help but wonder if she'd told any of the instructors that she'd woken up with a migraine. If she had, and IF the instructor had any knowledge about the true nature of migraines, I would hope that the moment she said didn't feel well, the instructor would immediately turn around and begin ensuring that she got to shore safely.

That right there may have eliminated the scary near-fatal events that followed.

So there's another lesson, which in my mind shouldn't even need to be stated: if a diver says they don't feel well and wants to call the dive, call the dive!!!

 

[Rick Inman]

... I think that many of these mistakes are being made by many divers all over the word, but most get away with them and make the same mistakes (with greater confidence) on future dives.

Many of us (divers, DM's, instructors, etc.) take shortcuts even though we know better. The more times we get away with these shortcuts, the more we are encouraged to take the same shortcut again ...

You said it twice, but this, IMO, is worth repeating.

 

[C2001]

i had a situation last week that it think could have been avoided if the DM on the boat had been more "safety" oriented. We were doing a wreck dive at about 90 feet in the ocean. Several of us had forgotten to take our sea-sickness meds. even though the wrecks were only a ten minute boat ride from the harbor several people started to feel seasick. We did out first dive without incident. Then on the way to the next wreck we ate lunch-which i told people i thought was a bad idea but because i was the "newest" diver on the boat i was told to eat or i would have problems on the second dive. after about two minutes of eating lunch a dive instructor that was teaching a wreck class started throwing up. Then my dive buddy also started throwing up (he is a certified DM).We got to the site and both on them were still throwing up over the side of the boat. The DM on the boat told them to hurry up and suit up to get them in the water so they woudn't be sick anymore. The boat was really rocking. I started to feel ill and the DM told me to suit up and get in the water and i would feel better. I asked my buddy if he was ok and he said he would be fine. I told him that i didn't think it was a good idea to dive since he had been throwing up. He said he was fine and to get in the water. So i suited up and we got in the water. We went to the anchor line to decend. I asked my buddy if he was ok and he said he was fine. We slowly decended down the anchor line because i was having trouble equalizing. At 45 feet my buddy let go of the anchor line and then i saw a huge cloud of vomit. I saw him take his reg out of his mouth twice and he started to panic so i assumed that he had clogged his reg. I grabbed my oct and started to hand it to him. He took it and i grabbed him with my free hand since i was still hanging on to the anchor line. I then brought us up to the surface in a slow ascent. When we got to the surface i inflated my bc and asked him if he could inflate is bc or if he need help. He said he could and we bobbed at the surface near the bow of the boat. The boat DM and captain were right there and asked if everything was ok. I told them what happened. After a few minutes my buddy said he could swim back to the deck and i watched him and swam with him until we made it to the swim step.
I have only 20 dives and my buddy has over 300 ocean dives and about 900 fresh water dived. plus he out weighs me by 200 lbs. I consider us both lucky that this was a simple save. I think this could have been avoided if the DM of the boat had told the diver to stay out of the water since he had been vomiting. I think "old timers" become complacant. I see it all the time with hikers and scuba is a lot more dangerous.
I know i need to take a rescue class and would have if i had the money but before you take that class you need to take the AOW class. they need to make these classes cheaper so more people can afford to take them