Happy Outcome for Diver with Cardiac event while diving GBR Australia

[DandyDon]

Warning: Typically bad journalism: From Great escape of scuba diver - News - Manchester Evening News 16 Feb 2008

It is especially good to read of a diver surviving an in-water cardiac event. I really don't think the lady suffered DCS from a 20 ft dive, altho there are a number of related possibilities and we'll never know because of the poor reporting. Very fortunate that her buddy/hubby was close and attentive at the time of the event, that a physician and nurse were on the trip, and that the medical pros were back on the boat when the rescue happened. Wonder if some will blame age again...?

A MANCHESTER woman had her 'life saved' by a holidaymaking doctor and nurse after suffering a heart attack while 20ft underwater during a scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef.

The woman - named by rescue workers as 42-year-old Jill Taylor - was diving with her husband off the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland, Australia, when she suffered a seizure and a cardiac arrest below the surface.

She was brought to the surface, where an Australian doctor and nurse performed CPR while waiting for an air ambulance to arrive.

A Central Queensland rescue spokesman told the M.E.N that Mrs Taylor had been unconscious for 10 minutes after Wednesday's incident, but was revived.

She was taken to the Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition and later transferred to Townsville Hospital for decompression treatment.

"The woman, 42-year-old Jill Taylor from Manchester, was on a commercial diving trip with her husband when she suffered a seizure and a cardiac arrest while in the water," the spokesman said.

CPR

"She received rapid attention from the doctor on board the boat and along with the nurse they conducted CPR, which no doubt has saved her life."

Rescue doctor Fran Kinnear said the heart attack was a result of pressure changes while diving.

"The decompression injury resulted in a number of neurological effects to the patient including temporary blindness," she said.

"If not for the immediate treatment the patient received from the doctor and nurse on board the dive boat, the outcome might have been very different."

Dr Kinnear said Mrs Taylor was `progressing well' at Townsville Hospital.

Divers can suffer decompression illnesses - known as "the bends" - as they return to the surface.

Nitrogen dissolved into body tissues at high pressure is released as bubbles, which can block the small veins and arteries. In severe cases, people can suffer shock, total collapse and even death. Treatment includes pressuriz

ed chambers and the inhalation of pure oxygen.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

That is great to hear that she made it. I'm not sure why age is the first factor that you mention Don (other than maybe lately there have been quite a few threads on age). Even the medical types argue about what cause these things.

 

[DandyDon]

That is great to hear that she made it. I'm not sure why age is the first factor that you mention Don (other than maybe lately there have been quite a few threads on age). Even the medical types argue about what cause these things.

[-]AGE could be a real risk from 20 ft, but I quoted from the article where the reporter claimed that the physician called it DCS and went on to describe neurological problems from nitrogen bubbles - which would not be possible on a 20 ft dive, unless I'm having a brain fog event? While the doctor was successful in saving her life, it might have been him who doesn't understand DCS, or the reporter could have miswrote it, or other possibilties.[/-]
Edit: I was having a brain cloud! You were referencing my crack about her age. I guess I'm just touchy after recent claims that us 50+ divers should stop - or in my case, never started. :silly:

 

[Desert_Diver]

AGE could be a real risk from 20 ft, but I quoted from the article where the reporter claimed that the physician called it DCS and went on to describe neurological problems from nitrogen bubbles - which would not be possible on a 20 ft dive, unless I'm having a brain fog event? While the doctor was successful in saving her life, it might have been him who doesn't understand DCS, or the reporter could have miswrote it, or other possibilties.

I have no first hand information, but the story says she suffered the medical emergency AT 20 feet. It is possible she was near the end of the dive and in the process of surfacing. Maybe Almighty Wife will be able to supply more details.

Art

 

[DandyDon]

I have no first hand information, but the story says she suffered the medical emergency AT 20 feet. It is possible she was near the end of the dive and in the process of surfacing. Maybe Almighty Wife will be able to supply more details.

Art

That is certainly one of the possibilities that came to my mind, but I was taught in high school journalism that the lead sentance of a news story should include Who, What, When, Where, How and maybe Why - then details given, which they weren't.

But then, I took journalism 40 yrs ago, maybe the school has changed?