Diver Died In West Palm Beach, Fl.

[John_B]

She dove to a depth of 10-feet and then came back to the surface with breathing problems, deputies said. Two people tried helping Oshea by putting the breathing regulator back in her mouth but she kept spitting it out, authorities said. One the divers inflated her flotation device but Oshea deflated it, deputies said.

If she was feeling chest tightness and shortness of breath then wouldn't that be consistent with a brand new diver (rightly or wrongly) deflating their jacket BC due to squeeze at the surface and spitting our the regulator to try to take deeper breaths?

Regardless, what a tragic event for her children.

 

[John_B]

I stand by my original statement: "If that is the duty and if you can not fulfill that duty with six students that you have trained, you screwed up either in their training or in the number you took out."

I think you have jumped to conclusions here, this could very well be nothing more than an undetected heart condition. Not all deaths are preventable. I'm all for AEDs but they are designed to only work in certain cases and even then there are no guarantees.

I have to say that I don't see evidence here for anyone to start playing a round of "blame the instructor".

Based on your quote above (and not this incident BTW), at what point does a certified diver become responsible for themselves?

 

[Thalassamania]

I think you have jumped to conclusions here, this could very well be nothing more than] an undetected heart condition. Not all deaths are preventable. I'm all for AEDs but they are designed to only work in certain cases and even then there are no guarantees.

Please read the thread before posting, it saves everyone a lot of time.

... the prima facie conclusion is that, short of massive outside interference (e.g., aliens with ray-guns), or unpreventable and undetectable medical conditions, the leadership personnel involved screwed up.

... We have no idea if the instructor screwed the pooch, or if was one of those horrible and unpreventable tragedies.

More details are sure to be revealed in time.

I have to say that I don't see evidence here for anyone to start playing a round of "blame the instructor".

I was unaware that anyone had.

Based on your quote above (and not this incident BTW), at what point does a certified diver become responsible for themselves?

An interesting question that is worthy of further discussion. Especially in light the dumbing down of all level of courses, the bizarre redefinition of words like "mastery" in current standards, and the mixed messages that come out of both sides of the same mouth, in advertising (e.g., try diving, it's safe!) as opposed to waivers and such (e.g., diving is dangerous and you can die).

What do you think? Is today's newly trained diver ready to dive? Ready to dive in identically conditions to those trained in only? Sufficiently well trained to recognizing said conditions? Perhaps should be restricted to diving with leadership personnel for some number of dives before becoming "fully certified?"

 

[medical1]

My heart goes out to the children. Has a fund been set up that people can contribute to?

Per the Newspaper
The funeral for Debbie O'Shea will be Friday at 10:30 a.m. at North Bay Community Church on 3170 McMullen-Booth Road in Clearwater, FL. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Robert O'Shea, c/o the O'Shea family, 2260 Twin Lane Drive, Dunedin, FL 34698, and will be put in a fund for the children.

 

[littlewaywelt]

In my first responder course through the dive shop I asked about AEDs on boats. They said many (most?) small boats don't carry them because there is water everywhere, makes sense to me. The boat might have had oxygen on board, but I think more force is needed to deliver a rescue breath to a non-breathing victim than simply putting an oxygen mask on will accomplish.

An oxygen mask (aka non-rebreather) doesn't have anything to do with rescue breathing. It does not force air into the lungs it just increases the amount/concentration of oxygen that gets into the lungs when someone is breathing or being ventilated. Rescue breathing via a bag valve mask or mouth to mouth is used when someone isn't ventilating/breathing on his own. O2 on a nrb mask does nothing in that case. An O2 line can be hooked up to a non-rebreather mask, bag valve mask, or cpr pocket mask. In any event, CPR is rarely successful.

 

[BTravlin]

This was NOT a student. This was a certified diver (Although new) going on a dive trip. The instructors job is to monitoring her STUDENTS per standards as she was doing. The students were her responsibility. The dive instructor is not responsible for every diver on a trip. Just because the instructor was on the same dive boat meant nothing in this situation. Everyone is so quick to try and throw blame before ALL the facts come out.

Truly tragic for everyone. Her husband died a year ago to cancer.
Say a prayer for the 4 children who have now lost both parents. The funeral is Friday 5/9/08

Very sad. How old are the children?

 

[ChrisA]

That strikes me as odd. Was this her first dive of the day or second? I don't know if you can get Narc'd that fast...

The boat name is Narcosis, which is a bit eerie too...

THere is zero chance of being "narc'd" in 10 feet of depth. Even if she was at 200 feet the effect of beig narc'd goes away almost instanly as you assend. It is NOT like Alcohol or other drugs that take time to wear off. Narcosis only effects you while you are at depth.

The only objective facts we have are that she dove only to 10 Feet. Looks like she may have paniced herself to thepoint of heart failure. Likely we will never know new papers never follow up on these stories

Every one of these stories about a diver dieing with a full tank of air near the surface due to panic attack makes me think more thar we are training the wrong person to dive. The WO classes realy should do something to weed out those who are uncomfrtable in the water. They shoul go back to the Old School method where (1) There is a real swim test and (2) students must be reasonably good at free diving before they are allowed to use scuba. The problem is that every person who is "weeded out" is one less person yu can sell gear to.

The other thing they could do is to require divers to dive frequently or loose the certification. Maybe some rule like "log at least three dives in the last 90 days or you must dive with an instructior until you are signed off as competent.

 

[comspy]

Wow.. this is really sad. I wonder what could have caused this. The scary thing for me, though, is that I've been on that boat several times before.. and been to that same reef on that same boat! I can't imagine how sad the captain of the boat must be.. along with the divers who were diving with this person. Where was here dive buddy?

 

[nike2196]

Mouth to mouth delivers 16% oxygen to the patient. Using a Bag valve mask, hooked up to o2 does increase the chance of survival.

 

[TexasFencer]

The only objective facts we have are that she dove only to 10 Feet. Looks like she may have paniced herself to thepoint of heart failure. Likely we will never know new papers never follow up on these stories

Every one of these stories about a diver dieing with a full tank of air near the surface due to panic attack makes me think more thar we are training the wrong person to dive. The WO classes realy should do something to weed out those who are uncomfrtable in the water. They shoul go back to the Old School method where (1) There is a real swim test and (2) students must be reasonably good at free diving before they are allowed to use scuba. The problem is that every person who is "weeded out" is one less person yu can sell gear to.

I can't disagree that some people are trained to dive when they are not necessarily capable in the water. However, the pairing of the comment suggests that you are saying this poor woman was incompetent in the water, which lead to her heart attack. (I don't know if you meant to say this, it is just how it reads to me.) There is a possibility that she was fine in the water, but the symptoms of heart failure overrode her concious thinking processes and sent her into a panic attack.

The other thing they could do is to require divers to dive frequently or loose the certification. Maybe some rule like "log at least three dives in the last 90 days or you must dive with an instructior until you are signed off as competent.

The three dives in 90 days is a great idea, but would make it pretty hard on low budget divers.