Back in the Water

[p_kos]

Lawyers in NY were worse than P.A.'s. Not one firm would take the case. I thought it was open and shut.

Wow! Surprised to hear that from a US citizen.

 

[Akimbo]

The physician assistant wouldn't place me on an oxygen mask, wouldn't call DAN to speak to a hyperbaric medicine expert, and from what the paramedics told me, I had been listed as a non-emergency transport. I believe it was 7 hours before I was chambered just 90 minutes from the accident site.

The lack of urgency relating to hyperbaric injuries in most medical settings has disturbed me for decades. There seems to no comprehension between treatment DCS to prevent further soft tissue damage and treatment of damage caused caused by DCS.

Although misdiagnosis of a probable DCS symptoms can delay treatment for the actual cause, it does not get the emergent care it deserves.

 

[MichaelMc]

It seems like calling DAN yourself and giving them your name, symptoms, the hospital name, and the lack of treatment could help, as Trace realized in hindsight. Then the hospital might be getting a call from a specialist MD about their patient's apparent lack of care. That might fall under DAN's role of arranging the proper care for you.

An expensive lesson for us to learn.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It seems like calling DAN yourself and giving them your name, symptoms, the hospital name, and the lack of treatment could help, as Trace realized in hindsight. Then the hospital might be getting a call from a specialist MD about their patient's apparent lack of care. That might fall under DAN's role of arranging the proper care for you.

An expensive lesson for us to learn.

This reminds me of another reason I once heard for diving with a buddy: in the event of a medical incident that renders you unable to do things for yourself, the buddy can help advocate for you. If nothing else, the buddy could call DAN for you.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

This reminds me of another reason I once heard for diving with a buddy: in the event of a medical incident that renders you unable to do things for yourself, the buddy can help advocate for you. If nothing else, the buddy could call DAN for you.

Imagine having the great GUE instructor and local dive shop owner Bob Sherwood, who has a sandwich named after him in Cape Vincent, being in the ER with you and the care team not listening to him either. Between the two of us there is almost nothing we can't charm from people -- except getting a P.A. to phone DAN.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Imagine having the great GUE instructor and local dive shop owner Bob Sherwood, who has a sandwich named after him in Cape Vincent, being in the ER with you and the care team not listening to him either. Between the two of us there is almost nothing we can't charm from people -- except getting a P.A. to phone DAN.

I really wonder what the best course of action would be in this case. The buddy calls DAN and administers O2 properly (I would hope that everyone has two bottles in their car, and ideally the adapter for connecting to scuba cylinder), possibly driving you to the chamber.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

What really made me angry a few weeks ago was something I saw on "Beach Patrol" or "Ocean Force." Lifeguards at a California beach were alerted about a sick dog. One of the lifeguards with a stoner Spicoli accent said, "I don't know anything about dogs and I'm not a vet. But, I do know oxygen can't hurt. We're rigging up an O2 mask for the little guy and transporting him to the nearest emergency animal hospital."

A dog can get an oxygen mask from Malibu Ken, but I couldn't get an O2 mask in the ER of a hospital that sits right on the water with its own dock not 50 feet from an 1800's shipwreck. Nor could I get an emergency transport to a chamber.

I was talking to local paramedics and if I had dialed 911 instead of going into the hospital, I would have gotten the first aid I needed from the local volunteer ambulance company, including oxygen. The paramedics who transported me were not suppose to give me oxygen but I convinced them to give me an O2 mask. Finally got O2 about 6 hours later. I should have never gotten off my own oxygen that I administered immediately.

 

[johndiver999]

why did you not have your buddy go get the bottle you needed and just use it in the hospital while you wait? Or leave and come back in with it and refuse to surrender it?

 

[Trace Malinowski]

why did you not have your buddy go get the bottle you needed and just use it in the hospital while you wait? Or leave and come back in with it and refuse to surrender it?

Lots we could have been done after Monday morning QBing. Turns out my friend who owns a commercial diving company happened to have a chamber on site just 9 miles away that day. Had he known, he would have chambered me himself.
.

 

[Compressor]

I really wonder what the best course of action would be in this case. The buddy calls DAN and administers O2 properly (I would hope that everyone has two bottles in their car, and ideally the adapter for connecting to scuba cylinder), possibly driving you to the chamber.

Transfer to Syracuse where there is a hyperbaric chamber with physicians trained in hyperbaric medicine.
Oxygen is first aid, more definitive treatment was needed including high flow oxygen and immediate transfer to a chamber for evaluation.

I'm sorry for your suffering @Trace Malinowski.