dive buddy got bent

[vladimir]

Because in the 12 hours I was there, we had 3 people shot (one of which I flew in - the only flight I made last night. The rest of the shift I spent in the ER). One stabbed.

Remind me not to move to Pueblo West, CO. :joke:

 

[cdolphin]

Jimmy (the Original Poster) -

Could you please pretty please re-post the first explanation of your incident? It is a great story that not everyone was able to read....

Thx!





I s'pose I could unsubscribe

 

[Leejnd]

Flame War and Scubaboard??

tell me it ain't so.

Thank you Jimmy21, good luck to you and your buddy. Thanks for sharing your mis-adventure with DAN.....A lot of us will be reading the fine print, carrying our own oxygen, and reducing our expectations as we cut another check to DAN.

I agree. Yet another classic ScubaBoard trashing of someone who had the courage to post his story and own up to his errors. You gotta have awfully thick skin to post on this forum...especially if you made mistakes (which anyone who HAD an incident, usually did!), because you're going to have your nose not only rubbed in them, but ground violently down into them until it's raw and bloody.

Been there, done that.

I wish to offer my thanks to the OP as well. I'm going to go take a closer look at what exactly my DAN insurance provides. We do a decent amount of dive travel to other countries, and if they're not going to help me if an incident happens, then I suspect there may be other, better options. Perhaps this was an anamoly...but perhaps it wasn't.

 

[DandyDon]

I agree. Yet another classic ScubaBoard trashing of someone who had the courage to post his story and own up to his errors. You gotta have awfully thick skin to post on this forum...especially if you made mistakes (which anyone who HAD an incident, usually did!), because you're going to have your nose not only rubbed in them, but ground violently down into them until it's raw and bloody.

Been there, done that.

I wish to offer my thanks to the OP as well. I'm going to go take a closer look at what exactly my DAN insurance provides. We do a decent amount of dive travel to other countries, and if they're not going to help me if an incident happens, then I suspect there may be other, better options. Perhaps this was an anamoly...but perhaps it wasn't.

What if the doctor sees you and then wants you to sit & wait to see if symptoms return after the O2 or not?

Does everyone have DAN's numbers in the cell phones and keep them charged? Call back! If you can't, say because you are international, call collect or ask them to specifically call you later.

 

[vjanelle]

And do you have the new numbers?

 

[bsee65]

Unfortunately, we no longer have the original post to refer to, which was a fairly clear presentation.

If I recall correctly, the OP's buddy was seen by a physician, who happened to be a diver, and who ruled out AGE. She told the OP that she was trying to find out who the hyperbaric physicians at the hospital were and to contact one. The OP gave her their contact information, which had already been given to him by DAN directly. The OP and his buddy were then relegated to the waiting room for 2-1/2 hours, at which point they left.

The crux of the OP's complaint, if I'm not mistaken, is that this consultation didn't happen. He had expected, though, and specifically requested, that DAN take the initiative and contact the hospital, which they were not willing to do.

That's not close to my recollection. I believe the situation was as follows:

They completed a dive. While driving away from the site and increasing altitude by as much as 1K feet, the buddy began to have symptoms. They put her on O2 and called DAN. DAN recommended a particular facility which was an hour further away than the nearest care. When they arrived at that facility, they sat around a couple hours without seeing a doctor. During that time, attempts to get DAN to contact the facility or one of the doctors on DAN's list were unsuccessful. Attempts to get a doctor at the facility to contact DAN were also unsuccessful. After 2.5 hours, a doc checked her lungs and decided she seemed okay, but expressed an interest in contacting one of the more qualified doctors on staff, but this didn't happen over the next 90 minutes. At some point, she was taken off O2 and some shoulder discomfort returned but didn't escalate.

The OP's primary complaint was that DAN did nothing to assist in expediting care.

 

[pasc]

I remember reading in my DAN insurance that it doesn't kick in until I am a certain ways from home. That may be why there is such a change in the way this situation was handled as compared to the one reported here earlier

Your situation is probably a little different, as you're buying DAN insurance in Australia as an Australian resident. Most hyperbaric treatments in Australia are covered by Medicare (our compulsory govt health insurance for the oversea readers).

I suspect the 200km rule is to do with ambulance cover in Australia.

One thing I noticed while re-reading the fine print, is that there is no coverage is there is alcohol involved, or when "flying after diving after a period less than recommended by the most recent DAN guidelines for flying after diving". Something I can't recall reading people talking about.

Pasc

 

[bamamedic]

Just to throw out an alternate viewpoint:

When I called DAN, I got exactly the same kind of service the OP expected...but on my third call.

Called the first time, was advised to go to the ED for eval.

Called the second time the next morning, and was strongly advised to go to the ED for eval (I'm really stubborn)

When I called the third time, I was connected with a DAN MD who called the nearest ED, advised the ED as to appropriate treatment, and helped them coordinate further care.

Maybe there's another side to the story that we aren't being told?

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Your situation is probably a little different, as you're buying DAN insurance in Australia as an Australian resident. Most hyperbaric treatments in Australia are covered by Medicare (our compulsory govt health insurance for the oversea readers).

I suspect the 200km rule is to do with ambulance cover in Australia.

One thing I noticed while re-reading the fine print, is that there is no coverage is there is alcohol involved, or when "flying after diving after a period less than recommended by the most recent DAN guidelines for flying after diving". Something I can't recall reading people talking about.

Pasc

Yes I suspect the differences in our coverage is related to the public cover and the fact that hyperbaric chambers are not as few and far between as in other places in the world. Insurers will not pay to cover costs that are covered by another plan as the treatments in Australia are.

I should stop being so subtle.. and say what I mean... you need to read your coverage and it may not be the same from one country/continent to another. I think that was Don's point as well and yes Don I should reread the information... my memory isn't what it used to be:shocked2:

Dan makes a good point tho.. we have the numbers for DAN on our tags on our gear but we don't have it in our mobile phones.

I would like to thank the OP for posting a thread that is making people think because clearly he is not the only one who expected DAN would play a different role!

 

[jhelmuth]

... What i can not get from my local divers and instructors is if i have unrealistic expectations of DAN and there role/ ability to assist me. The fact that they are not able or willing to contact someone other than me even after i asked them to concerns the hell out of me and tells me that i need to look to spend my money elsewhere. Part of my planning is knowing that i have "DAN on my side" to help me through a system that I have little means to navigate myself.

If you had a problem with the law in another country, do you think you would be better off speaking to the law directly or having your embassy contact them on your behalf? Which method would you want? I thought DAN was my embassy. I seem to be wrong.

This is the last post I'm going to make on this thread (time to move on - I won't beat this dead horse)...


If you want to learn something, listen to what we are saying. DAN did their job - as agreed in their contract. They indeed helped you navigate throught the system (your words). But you left the ER without treatment just because you felt you needed quicker attention (not DANs fault). Your plan (including DAN) is only lacking in execution. Do what DAN had told you to do and you would have gotten treatment (for GF). ERs are busy and they did the right thing as well.

You can go buy any other insurance (I actually would rather you all NOT be a part of DAN), but you will not solve the percieved problem in doing so.

Go back and re-read what has been posted here and think about you actions and how that played a role in the outcome.

At the end of the day, what did DAN do wrong? Nothing... you abandoned treatment because you were not happy because it was coming slower than you felt it should (which was not a problem DAN had anything to do with).