diving with one lung

[gr8fulr2]

I have a friend who has one lung at full operating capacity and the other at 15%. He is 17 and really wants to dive the lung defect was a birth defect. I know he should see a doc first but I wondered if anyone has heard of similar situations?
Thanks
Ron

 

[Mako Mark]

he should definately see a doc, and if you can get a hyperbaric (diving) doctor even better, mots GP's are not familiar with diving medicine.

 

[jbd]

I have a friend who has one lung at full operating capacity and the other at 15%. He is 17 and really wants to dive the lung defect was a birth defect. I know he should see a doc first but I wondered if anyone has heard of similar situations?
Thanks
Ron

Basically I agree with cancunmark (post #2). From a liability perspective, I would suspect that any MD would nix the diving idea for your friend for two basic reasons.

1.) should he injure the good lung, he has far less capacity to survive the injury.
2.) is the affected lung able to allow for the free passage of air in and out of the aveoli? Think Boyles Law.

For the sake of discussion lets say that issue #2 was not a problem i.e there is no air entrapment problem etc, etc, etc. Phsiologically your friend could dive. This brings us back to issue #1. What level of risk is he willing to accept? What level of risk are his parents willing to accept? Does his acceptance of personal risk take into consideration his family's feelings on the matter? If all of this is agreed upon, can he find an instructor who will take him on with full disclosure of only having one lung? Will the instructors agency accept this risk level? In the end what insurance company will cover an agency or instructor in such circumstances? Would his own insurance policies pay in the event of an injury or death? Assuming all of this could be agreed upon could he find an instructor that would teach, train and drill him in excellent, finely tuned buoyancy control before he ever went to OW?

I'm all in favor of living life despite any obstacles or handicaps one may be faced with but this case seems to have the deck stacked against it happening.

You might be able to get some more insight from an instructor that is certified through HSAI. Not sure exactly what the acronym stands for but they teach handicapped people to scuba dive. Some of the members of this board are instructors for that agency.

 

[Wildcard]

Handicapped scuba association international.

 

[Dive-aholic]

What is the medical name for the birth defect he has?