Diver down in Jupiter

[Johnoly]

Along with Ratman & BlueGillchow, I was part of the group. He was with the dive master the entire end of the dive. Normal dive time, did a 2 minute half stop at 40 feet which he was known to practice. They also both did a 3 minute stop at 15ft. In his tank was over 700psi on the boat. This was a vessel circulatory issue not AGE (Arterial Gas Embolism)

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

First and foremost, my condolences go out to the man's friends and family as well as those of you on the boat. It sounds like everything possible was done to save this gentleman.

With the caveat, that I was not there, the age of the diver would certainly make you worry about a heart attack complicated by pulmonary edema though no one has mentioned any symptoms of chest pain, etc. It sounds like AGE is unlikely given the info given by the divemaster who was with him for the ascent, though he could have held his breath (especially during the last part of the ascent) that was not noticed by the divemaster. Another option would be immersion pulmonary edema. I was one of several authors on this condition in a recent issue of DAN's Alert Diver Magazine.

There is no way to know without more information. Hopefully, from an academic perspective, an autopsy was performed. While it will never bring this man back, it could help us in the diving medicine community help divers in the future.

Doug

 

[Johnoly]

... It sounds like everything possible was done to save this gentleman.

Thanks my friend for your post. There's prior history here and the staff on the boat did everything 100% correct. I've seen JDC train over and over and over during surface intervals many times in live drills while out at sea and they are darn good. The response from other support boats was fantastic too.

 

[BubbleBlocker]

There is no way to know without more information. Hopefully, from an academic perspective, an autopsy was performed. While it will never bring this man back, it could help us in the diving medicine community help divers in the future.

Doug

Agree completely. I know I, along with everyone else who knew this diver, will miss him dearly but hope to know and understand more regarding what happened in those final moments of his life.

 

[mscott556]

The response from other support boats was fantastic too.

I was surprised to see Towboat US and another boat transfer gear and personnel to our boat while en route to the dock. They all did a great job.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

As many of Craig's friends will attest, he was a very experienced and careful diver. I had the pleasure of diving with him during the annual Lemon Shark D2D (Scuba Diving Board) gatherings in 2009 and 2010 in Jupiter, FL.
I can guarantee he didn't hold his breath or do anything that pushed his limits and there are many, many dive buddies who have dived with him that would say the same. He did have a past history of heart issues, but I have dived with other divers through the years that had blockages and/or bypass surgery and went on to live very active lives and continued diving. As well meaning as it sounds, it is still really hard to hear people speculate about the cause of his death.

I just want to say he was one of the most generous, full-of-life, caring, family man that I have ever had the pleasure to meet and the world is a little dimmer now that his light is gone. I'm not saying anybody posted anything wrong, but please do keep in mind that this man's family and friends are reading these posts and are all still reeling in disbelief and pain. So please keep speculation at a minimum.

Rest in peace, my friend.

 

[motorref]

Kudos to all involved in this, as it seems everyone did all that they could to save him, and my heart goes out to his family and all that were involved - you may think you can handle the emotional pressure of a situation like this, but I can tell you from experience it is very very tough.
I'd like to chime in here for a minute, but only to say that people are often revived when it seems apparent that they are gone; I referee amatuer and professional bicycle races (on a motorcycle) and I've had the unfortunate experience of seeing people suffer heart attacks while riding/racing. In one instance we had EMTs on site in less than 90 seconds, doing CPR, to no avail; on another inceident several nurses that were on the ride started CPR by the time I got there, and to my eyes, the rider was gone - completely limp, no pulse, eyes rolled back, etc.
But they (the nurses) never gave up and he was transferred to an ALS unit who (amazingly) managed to revive him enroute to the hospital - no one was more shocked than I to hear the news.
Moral of the story - never give up, even if the patient is unresponsive and appears dead.

KevinL

 

[TSandM]

KevinL, I agree with you, to a point. There are certainly unusual stories of people revived after more than an hour of CPR, with good neurological function. But those cases are rare. I don't think lay rescuers should "give up" if there is professional help on the way, but if you are somewhere where such help is unavailable and transport to land is an hour or more away, there comes a point at which I think it's reasonable for basic resuscitation efforts to stop after a half hour or forty-five minutes. This would not be true if there was thought to be a significant component of hypothermia (diver was lost on the surface in a cold water area, found after a search where he might have gotten very cold).

Frothing at the mouth is generally an indication of fluid in the lungs. This can be due to many processes, including things that impede forward flow out of the heart (arrhythmias, heart muscle damage or "heart attack"), things that change fluid dynamics in the lungs (immersion pulmonary edema), or pulmonary barotrauma. A definitive diagnosis is not possible in the field and can sometimes be difficult in the hospital.

 

[FritzCat66]

Unfortunately, this sounds a lot like the situation I experienced when SB user littlejohn came up from a similar Jupiter dive in October of 2008. He was not foaming or anything, and was still conscious when the EMT's took him at the Jupiter dock, but died in the hospital later the following day. Even though he absolutely did nothing wrong and in fact came up very slowly along with myself and the divemaster as she reeled in the flag, he embolised - although in his case it was due to an undiagnosed pre-existing condition that predisposed him towards clotting.

I will say that my experience with those South Florida EMT's is that they are better trained than most on how to deal with dive emergencies and knew exactly what kind of questions to ask as they took him away - "How many dives? How deep? How long? What surface interval? What mix?", etc. It wouldn't surprise me if many of those guys & gals are divers themselves.

 

[DivingOtter]

Is it common for someone having a heart attack to be foaming at the mouth? I don't know, I'm just asking...[/LEFT]

i concur with the lung over inflation, POIS. Pulmonary Over Inflation Syndrome