Drowning at Windy Point 10-13-2007

[LVX]

The Travis County Sheriff's Office said on Monday that Ernest Lynn Bohannon, 56, died of accidental drowning in Lake Travis.

Sheriff’s Detectives say Bohannon was diving with a dive master and 2 other students when he became panicked for unknown reasons and started taking in water.

He was on his 4th of 6 dives needed to attain his advanced, open-water certification.

Bohannon was found about 86 feet under water. Medics performed CPR at the scene.

The victim was transported to Brackenridge Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

 

[cruiser]

The Travis County Sheriff's Office said on Monday that Ernest Lynn Bohannon, 56, died of accidental drowning in Lake Travis.

Sheriff’s Detectives say Bohannon was diving with a dive master and 2 other students when he became panicked for unknown reasons and started taking in water.

He was on his 4th of 6 dives needed to attain his advanced, open-water certification.

Bohannon was found about 86 feet under water. Medics performed CPR at the scene.

The victim was transported to Brackenridge Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Thank you, Layne.

 

[ReefHound]

That's a considerable change, listing drowning and not heart attack as the cause. I wonder how reliable that press release is though, I've heard from several who were at the scene that said he was with an *instructor*, not a divemaster.

 

[tlessard]

I had a friend here at work who had a heart attack while diving and passed away...his was also ruled a drowning. From what I gathered at the time, when water is found in the lungs, it is ruled as such. Normally, the autopsy will also lists factors that would have led to the drowing. For instance, in the case of my co-worker, he had a 90% blockage in his heart.

 

[Guba]

I understand that certain terminology is used in the medical/legal areas that sometimes seems counter-intuitive. For example, terming this death as "drowning" because water was found in the lungs. To most of us that's perplexing because of the evidence that seems to indicate that the death was "caused" by something other than simply inhaling water (I'm referring to the reports that the diver had ample air in his tank and reg in place when found--that implies something else caused him to quit breating, then water entered his lungs). Whatever the cause of the tragedy (that could be a whole other matter), I offer my sympathy to the family and friends of the victim, along with heartfelt thanks and sympathy to the rescuers as well. I know it can be traumatic for all involved.

 

[Joanna.Cordry]

I understand that certain terminology is used in the medical/legal areas that sometimes seems counter-intuitive. For example, terming this death as "drowning" because water was found in the lungs. To most of us that's perplexing because of the evidence that seems to indicate that the death was "caused" by something other than simply inhaling water (I'm referring to the reports that the diver had ample air in his tank and reg in place when found--that implies something else caused him to quit breating, then water entered his lungs). Whatever the cause of the tragedy (that could be a whole other matter), I offer my sympathy to the family and friends of the victim, along with heartfelt thanks and sympathy to the rescuers as well. I know it can be traumatic for all involved.

I'm not trying to speculate, just to add information... It is possible that a heart attack (or stroke or seizure or ruptured aneurism or something else) can cause someone to become unable to breathe through a regulator but not cause death. Thus, one would actually die from drowning, not from the original medical event (ie., one might not die if the event happened while one was on land rather than underwater).

 

[tlessard]

I'm not trying to speculate, just to add information... It is possible that a heart attack (or stroke or seizure or ruptured aneurism or something else) can cause someone to become unable to breathe through a regulator but not cause death. Thus, one would actually die from drowning, not from the original medical event (ie., one might not die if the event happened while one was on land rather than underwater).

Yes, it is...and it is every divers personal responsibility to make sure they are healthy enough to participate in diving activities as well as accepting all involved risks.

Here are some good medical guidelines I found with a quick web search:
http://www.ccjm.org/PDFFILES/McMullin8_06.pdf

 

[cruiser]

...become unable to breathe through a regulator but not cause death...

What would cause this?

 

[tlessard]

What would cause this?

Unconsciousness.

 

[Joanna.Cordry]

After reading the posts on this tragic event, all I have to say is this. The diver had a MASSIVE heart attack, in that case it doesn't matter if your on the surface or under water, your basicly going to be a vegatable if you live through it. You wouldn't have been able to survive this event, unless you were standing by with a AED and someone doing CPR withing the first minutes or so anyhow, With the diver still holding onto his light, this shows it was so quick, that his body didn't even have time to flinch.
Why does it matter how quickly someone responded.

The fact that this was a already certified diver, makes no concern about wether or not he was able to dive. Diver will dive despite what others say, they will pass the limits set forth in training just to dive. Basic OW divers are only supposed to dive to around 60' anyhow, he made it to 80 something, although he was with a instructor as a group, He was removed from proceding any further in training, but was not told he could not dive, he joined the group anyhow. this is not the fault of the instructor, or anyone involved. He was a diver and wanted to dive.

The instructor ascended performed his lost buddy check sent two other divers down to look while he waited on the surface. He probably did notify people on the surface that he had a lost diver/buddy but until that time passed from the other divers coming back, you have to wait. Most rescues in this type of event don't happen right away, it takes some time for everyone to get their act together, enter the water and perform the search.

Let this tragic event pass, and give the family and those involved some peace before bombarding them with what if's, could have's and should have.

My condolensces to the family and to those involved. its not easy seeing someone pass much less trying to perform cpr to bring them back and not succeed.
Its not easy being the person on the giving end and watching somone suffer to only pass a few minutes or hours later. I have been there and I know most people have never seen or been there, diving or not this was a tragic event, and NOTHING anyone could have done to prevent it.

Just as information: "massive heart attack" means very little - people use that phrase to mean all sorts of things. If they meant Sudden Cardiac Arrest, an AED is needed; if they meant myocardial infarction, then CPR can be very helpful in keeping someone alive. It doesn't necessarily mean death or disability for the person. Either way, time is important...

On a slightly different note - just about these kind of threads in general: I can only imagine what it's like to be present for something like this, much less be involved or have someone I love be the victim; you certainly have more experience about what it is like. I recently read an accident analysis (of a diving-related death) that was done by the deceased's husband (who was diving with her at the time), and I cannot even BEGIN to imagine how he was emotionally strong enough to do that. But he did, and he openly answered the 10 million questions people had, and he seemed to understand that some people have more tact than others & never assumed that anyone meant to be judgmental (again - what an amazing person he must be!) - even when they went into a lengthy discussion of whether or not she may have contributed to the likelihood of causing her own death with the 2 sprays of Afrin that she used prior to diving... However, I would imagine that most people (myself included) would choose to avoid even reading discussions like this one if they were close enough to the situation to be emotionally involved.

Anyway, I don't pretend to read the minds of other people on the board, but I would imagine that some of them are like me: we want to know everything we possibly can, just in case there is ANYTHING that we might learn from the event that might help make us more prepared for similar incidents. I also think some people really want to find explanations for things like this b/c it's scary to think that sometimes things just happen, and that it may be a situation over which they may have no control. I don't think anyone means to be judging anyone or making anything more painful for anyone. It's just their way of processing something that's a bit sobering for everyone...