Injured woman awarded 10,000 GBP for school negligence

[Mr.X]

In the UK - payouts are relatively low compared to the US. Sucks she only got 10K quid. In the US - she'd be looking at 6 figures. Or at the very least high 5's. I will also say that if you're a US citizen traveling abroad and doing some training - be alert to the fact that some of the steps necessary to ensure your safety may not always be there. In short sloppy sometimes. Also DAN tries to not pay out as much as possible. At the moment I needed them the most - they tried their best to wiggle out of paying for my evacuation flight back to the US from the UK. I really like having to negotiate with them from a hospital bed.

 

[Freewillow]

Unbelievable and funny story. Obviously the author of this report does not know anything about diving. I am not saying that the instructor is flawless, but DCS @ 6 to 13 m, sank like a stone to 5m. Inverted profile: 6/6 and then 13m...............Whow..................................no time to equalize during an ascent from 5 m to the surface.................................. All of this is a big Joke..........................Maybe pay 10,000 £ to get rid of the hassle, but for repair.................this is not a credible case.

 

[t-i-m-1]

To give you an overview of Stoney, it is essentially in three layers 6m, 20m and 35m with either an old quarry railway ramp linking the depths or via the walls of each layer. If she struggles to descent they would be fairly close to the side. There is no way up could drop to 13metres near the side. You can only enter from one segment of the quarry and the 6 metre ledge comes upto 1-2 meters if you are on the jetty or 3-4metres from the "bus stop". To get more than 6 metres you would have to swim out a far way, a mistake even the greenest of instructors would not make.

 

[boulderjohn]

I find it very hard to believe she had DCS in this instance. The fact that she was treated in a chamber does not mean she had DCS. People are often treated in a recompression chamber on something of a hunch--it won't hurt, so we might as well give it a shot.

On the other hand, she may have had a legitimate need for a chamber, and I base that both on the description of the incident and the fact that she had a rash. She could have been suffering from a lung overexpansion injury called subcutaneous emphysema. It presents as a rash. It is easy to believe that she suffered such an injury on her last ascent, and if she did, a chamber treatment would have been appropriate.

I agree with Ken--the amount of this settlement is of the "please go away" nature. It would have cost much more for the insurance company to defend the case, and if the plaintiff attorneys thought they had something real, they would not have advised settling for such a piddling sum.