Medical "Emergency Contact" - how, actually, do you do it

[also_anon_dc]

Of course it is true. My wife is my next of kin, and she is on the trip with me.

You’re willfully ignoring what I said but okay.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

That got me thinking. I may just start using my attorney and list as "My attorney, Ben Dover". At least they might be a little more careful.

I take the emergency contact question as more of "who are we gonna call to come get your body?" so I don't really expect much out of them. They can start the life insurance inquiries and keep the mortgage paid until they can sell the house.

 

[Belzelbub]

It they wanted next of kin they would ask for...wait for it...."next of kin." That is a different question than "emergency contact" and I've never been asked it on a dive trip.

I suspect the reason they don’t ask that is that next of kin carries a different weight. While serving the same purpose (mostly), emergency contact sounds a bit less dire.

Airline profiles, medical forms, etc. all ask for emergency contact. I use my next of kin. Next after that would be my parents or my kids.

 

[LI-er]

You’re willfully ignoring what I said but okay.

No he's not, @tursiops replies make perfect sense within the context of this thread and your posts.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Interesting question. I've never given it much thought. My wife doesn't dive but always knows my plans. I can list her and if contacted, she will already be aware of what my diving plans were, who I was diving with, where I was staying, etc. For those diving with your spouse or with no spouse, I can see how that could be a tough question. For my Garmin inReach SOS contact information, which asks for 2 contacts, I list our oldest daughter as my 2nd contact. She lives closest to us here in Florida and would at least be of some assistance if they couldn't reach my wife.

 

[LI-er]

My wife doesn't dive

My sympathies.

 

[divezonescuba]

But here is my question:

Who of you ever had to act as the emergeny contact and how did that come/go? And yeah, it probably depends a lot on how agencies etc. handle things.

I acted as an emergency contact for a diver who died during a dive trip.

It was actually quite involved. I had to go to the hospital, the police station, the funeral parlor, the diveshop, the hotel, and his car rental company. I also had to contact his brother who came down two weeks later. The police conducted an investigation and searched though all of his belongings.

After talking to witnesses, I found out that he was found on the surface by the first officer of Paul Allen's yacht. I ended going aboard the yacht to collect information on what happened to him. The first officer was on one of the two yachts dinghys going to shore when he encountered a tank floating on the surface. They first thought that a tank had fallen overboard, but found the diver was just below the surface. They took him to the shore and then had the yacht's nurse come over on the yacht's second dinghy with adrenaline. They were not able to resuscitate him before the ambulance arrived. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

What was also disturbing is what happened afterwards. In the process, his waterpoof wallet with identification, credit cards, and cash that he had on his body went missing. As a result, they initially did not know who he was and I was not able to obtain his DAN card for transportation back to the US. Two weeks later, his wallet mysterious reappeared intact, but without any cash in it. He ended up being cremated on the island. Because he did not fly back alive in person, the airline refused to transport any of his effects.

 

[tursiops]

I acted as an emergency contact for a diver who died during a dive trip.

It was actually quite involved. I had to go to the hospital, the police station, the funeral parlor, the diveshop, the hotel, and his car rental company. I also had to contact his brother who came down two weeks later. The police conducted an investigation and searched though all of his belongings.

After talking to witnesses, I found out that he was found on the surface by the first officer of Paul Allen's yacht. I ended going aboard the yacht to collect information on what happened to him. The first officer was on one of the two yachts dinghys going to shore when he encountered a tank floating on the surface. They first thought that a tank had fallen overboard, but found the diver was just below the surface. They took him to the shore and then had the yacht's nurse come over on the yacht's second dinghy with adrenaline. They were not able to resuscitate him before the ambulance arrived. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

What was also disturbing is what happened afterwards. In the process, his waterpoof wallet with identification, credit cards, and cash that he had on his body went missing. As a result, they initially did not know who he was and I was not able to obtain his DAN card for transportation back to the US. Two weeks later, his wallet mysterious reappeared intact, but without any cash in it. He ended up being cremated on the island. Because he did not fly back alive in person, the airline refused to transport any of his effects.

Why did you act as the next of kin, rather than just contacting the next of kin? What made you the person to do all that?

 

[divezonescuba]

Why did you act as the next of kin, rather than just contacting the next of kin? What made you the person to do all that?

Because he was a member of our group and it was the decent thing to do since his brother could not come down for two weeks.

 

[tursiops]

Because he was a member of our group and it was the decent thing to do since his brother could not come down for two weeks.

If you were the group leader I can see some extra responsibility, although many requests for "emergency contact" specifically say "not on the trip with you."