Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[ScubaSteve]

ScubaSteve mentions the DM should have been able to communicate. There are many cases of people who are in shock who can't communicate. Without benefit of other information, based on the description, it sounds like the DM could have been in shock.

And I maintain this opinion. I am one of those people, who, while it goes against other's thought processes and beliefs, holds a DM to a higher standard of expectation. I expect that if a DM loses their charge, then they must be capable of staving off shock until they have expressed the facts to someone. I expect the same of the firefighter who sees me in a burning building but needs to get someone else to help them to get me. The DM made it back to the surface safely did they not? While I believe there is information point to shock, I believe the fact that they safely made it topside and onto the boat says they were not. I stand by the fact that the DM's failure to express the situation to the boat crew is one of many failings. This is of course, just my opinion.

So, how is it that Mrs. Wood "escaped"?

By the simple fact that the DM was not able to maintain control over her when there was a percieved struggle would imply that she did in fact "escape".

 

[Only halcyon]

It is rare that accidents have only one error, its usually several. For myself I always dived with a slate. In the past my wife and I only used it to joke and spot fish. For some reason it was not in my Scuba bag and I noticed 24 hrs earlier which was our first dive in the Bahamas (the fatal dive was our 3rd dive). I had meant to purchase another at the Stuart cove Dive shop but got caught up in the vaccation and forgot. My wife and I will never dive with out one again. On a side note the Dive Inv team emailed me on Thusday requesting a copy of my dive log (from my comp) for the dive that morning so they are still working on trying to peice together what happened that morning.

 

[Only halcyon]

I forgot to post that the DM with Ms Wood was not on Nitrox as others assume

 

[ItsBruce]

It seems clear that Mrs. Wood did "escape." That is why I said I was concerned. Needless to say, "concern" does not equate with placing blame.

What I meant when I asked "how" she "escaped" is what mechanism or chain of events led to her "escape"? (I recognize that many times, when I ask such questions, it is to challenge the proposition. This is not one of those times.)

(Note: Good though I purport to be in using the English language to express myself, at this very moment, it seems to be failing me.)

It is possible that some emergency distracted the DM and while the DM was distracted, Mrs. Wood "escaped." It is possible that the DM did not see any problem with Mrs. Wood moving a little bit away from her. There are many other possibilities. I'm just curious which one or ones it might have been.

For what its worth, I resolve to keep much closer tabs on my buddy than I ever have before, even if my buddy is a DM or an instructor.

 

[Only halcyon]

I havn't been too vocal on this thread not for the want of saying what happened that morning, more due to the fact that I don't really have the free time to read what is only speculation. Of course I have my own interp of what happened that morning, I have rolled it around in my mind hundreds of times that if only I had left my wife and took charge of the situation Ms Wood would have made it top side. As I was watching the events unfold it was also very hard to process what was really happening. By that I mean that I could see some thing that looked not right, I felt it but when you process the info, you have to take a reality check and ask yourself it what you think you are seeing is realy happening. lets face it many dives will never see a diver intentionaly push away a DM and continue towards serious danger. Anyone would recognise a diver showing visible signs of distress, but this was not the case infact quite the opposite. Ms Woods actions seemed calm and with intent, almost like the DM was over reacting by touching her.

After the dive and talikng with my wife I learned that DM's in vaccation spots are little more than glorified tour guides, and I don't mean that to sound at all negative. What I mean is, they may well know the water, current , dive site, local conditions etc but when the chips are down who realy has your back? YOUR BUDDY!!! Can any of us realy expect a DM to know our dive limits, health, frame of mind, or to spot an action which is out of the norm. If I were to place my wife and I in that exact situation I would know in seconds that there was an issue. My wife never dives deeper than me! A sign. She moving away from me and decendingis something that has never happened! unresponsive to signaling and so on. A DM has to process this and wonder what is happening. It is unfair to hold a DM 100% responsible for what happened.

Of course I can't help feeling that if I were in the DM's position that this would not have happened. I know that if it were my wife down there I would have been able to manage the situation. It is very easy to grab a tank valve and take 100% control of that diver. I found this out first hand around 3 years ago while diving in Thailand when a fellow diver thought it would be funny to scare me, by grabing my tank valve and hiding behind me while a huge Titan Trigger fish sped towards our group. I was totaly helpless and couldnt move and at the time couldnt understand why. Topside it became a big joke at my expense, but I will always remember the feeling.

Even now I think about that morning not in trauma but analitical, I did have the op to help even if only for around 7 seconds after the 7 seconds had passed it was outside of what was reasonably possible. And if had chosen to leave my buddy I would have endangered the one person whom I had an unspoken agrement to help survive if the need arose.

My wife din't dive for the remainder of or vaccation while I chose to contine. I have to admit that I gave greater attention to whom I would buddy with. In the past I would buddy up with anyone the DM selected no matter what the cert level was. Not so now. I watched how single divers set up their equipment, what equipment they had, was it their own or rental. Talked to them and made the decision. I don't want to baby sit a new diver or put my safety in obvious danger. When we are on dives DM's are very often too far away to assist if there is an issue and its not their fault, they are typicaly young kids living out a lifestyle of free diving and fun in the sun while barely paying the bills for an apartment and beer money how can any of us entrust our lives to them? Its not fair to expect that of them and even more foolish of us to place such trust in them. I'm not saying they don't do a great job and help us enjoy dives, that they do very well, but they are not there to watch over each and every diver, its just not possible.

 

[Only halcyon]

For what its worth, I resolve to keep much closer tabs on my buddy than I ever have before, even if my buddy is a DM or an instructor.

If there is anything we can all take away from this its said perfectly in this quote!!

 

[MMM]

In the process of figuring out what went wrong, inevitably, you will lay blame.

Not if you are well-versed in critical incident analysis. The latter is a growing "best practice" in medicine. One of the precepts is to avoid assignation of blame so that health providers don't circle the wagons and drive error underground. It's tough sledding b/c of the standard desire to assign blame then fire their asses.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Not if you are well-versed in critical incident analysis. The latter is a growing "best practice" in medicine. One of the precepts is to avoid assignation of blame so that health providers don't circle the wagons and drive error underground. It's tough sledding b/c of the standard desire to assign blame then fire their asses.

I understand what you are saying.

But there is a point where a simple "error" or mistake crosses a line and becomes gross negligence or incompetence.... and the responsibility for preventing future "errors" of this sort lies with those, who in the end, must assign blame.

Best wishes.

 

[Thalassamania]

I am quite familiar with critical incident analysis (my wife is a nurse) however, when an instrument is left inside the patient ... it's damn near impossible to point that out without assigning blame (to several people).

 

[Katamuki]

Not if you are well-versed in critical incident analysis. The latter is a growing "best practice" in medicine. One of the precepts is to avoid assignation of blame so that health providers don't circle the wagons and drive error underground. It's tough sledding b/c of the standard desire to assign blame then fire their asses.

Its very common to do M&M reviews to find out what happened in medical issues and, yes, blame can and is affixed to practitioners or staff in these cases if warranted. Reviewing errors can be tricky for the "reviewer" as well as often not all the pertinent facts are available, just like the case of the diver in this thread.