Attacked by shark, stitches his own wound and goes for a beer

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

There are plenty of bugs in the open ocean too. Vibrio comes to mind right away. There are also less virulent bacteria that, sutured up in a wound, can nevertheless cause havoc. A long soak in salt water doesn't necessarily wash out bacteria that could have been driven deep into the wound by a tooth. Even dumping betadine on it is no guarantee. At the very least I hope he sutured it partly closed so it could drain, then prescribed himself a course of prophylactic antibiotics. I say again, this makes for a good story, but don't try it at home. Best regards, DDM

Every article we read about diving accidents is riddled with inaccuracies about diving. Why are we assuming that medicine is any different? The account of his stitching it up is probably inaccurate, not fully reported and simplified to make a better story.

For all we know he irrigated it with 10 liters of bottled water and a liter of antiseptic before sewing it up, and topped it off with some penicillin.
 
Once you have the edges approximated just watch for infection. I would've just gotten one of my MD friends to rx some abx, no need for a ED visit after you already sutured it.
 
Once you have the edges approximated just watch for infection. I would've just gotten one of my MD friends to rx some abx, no need for a ED visit after you already sutured it.

I'm sorry to keep beating on this and I don't want to sound pedantic, but this is a medical inaccuracy that just seems to keep rearing up. Maybe (probably?) PeterNBiddle is correct and the story was written to maximize the drama, but the basic message that wounds typically shouldn't be sutured in the field remains the same. An individual may be trained to suture (e.g. via a diver medic course), may have performed the procedure, may even keep some 3.0 silk in the medical kit, but it doesn't mean that he/she has the medical training or clinical judgement to be able to determine independently whether it's appropriate to suture a wound. If you do a buddy a favor and stitch up his shark bite, coral cut, or propeller wound in the field, you may well suture in harmful microorganisms or a retained fragment and condemn him to a nasty infection or worse. The article says that the individual in question was a "junior doctor" - if the story really is true, my guess is that his senior doctor had a word or two with him after.

Best regards,
DDM
 
An individual may be trained to suture (e.g. via a diver medic course), may have performed the procedure, may even keep some 3.0 silk in the medical kit, but it doesn't mean that he/she has the medical training or clinical judgement to be able to determine independently whether it's appropriate to suture a wound.

C'mon guys, you know that suturing is hardly ever done anymore for cutaneous wounds. It's all staples now. So grab the Swingline off the desk at the dive shop and have at it.


Please pardon any typos. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This guy has the worlds biggest man card, that's for sure.
 

Back
Top Bottom