Instructor sentenced after diver's death

[CT-Rich]

CT I’m just trying to piece together what might have happened which might avoid tragedy’s like this happening what is the point in mockingly picking apart what someone has said,

The reason I am doing that is you are creating a fanciful narrative that really has no basis in fact. You could say “gee I wonder if the equipment they had fit” or “I wonder if they silted out”. Or “I wonder how the body ended up at 36 m, was it a straight drop or did he go down a slope”. You really can’t take all those supposition and build a complete narrative out of them.

The question before us is whether the shop and instructor/guide acted in a way that significantly contributed to the death of the diver. Ok, the husband was a heavy breather... he had an inadequate tank for the planned dive, who was responsible? The fit of the wetsuit was never mentioned, so it was not necessarily an issue, same with the BCD. We can’t real talk about those being contributing factors because it is not in any of the articles about the dive.

We can talk about how each of these things could have been a contributing factor, but only in isolation. Putting them together is creating a narrative unmoored from reality and doesn’t address the core question of whether or not the Instructor or the shop should be held liable for the resulting death.

 

[Wookie]

It's not productive to make stuff up just because it sounds good. It detracts from the productivity of the conversation which should be left to those who discuss facts.

You say you've run a local dive shop but no longer? Doesn't make you an expert but if you closed up shop because you were not profitable it speaks volumes.

There is no doubt that internet sales have crippled local dive shops most of which would still be around generating a healthy profit if they didn't have to compete with low overhead high volume internet suppliers who can sell scuba diving equipment at costs only slightly higher than the local dive shop pays for it. It's the same with just about every other brick and mortar store selling everything from clothing to eyeglasses to sporting goods, we're seeing local stores, huge chain stores and mega malls going bankrupt and closing at unprecedented rates and it's all because of the internet offering prices for merchandise that local merchants cannot possibly match due to the overhead required to run a retail establishment and anyone who says otherwise, such as "they failed to adapt" or words to that effect is living on another planet.

Really? Wut?

 

[GlennL]

I just read these genre of threads because the liability aspects always intrigues me. I am a simpleton. Therefore complexity intrigues me even if I don’t understand it.
I am in the US. I know there are all different laws worldwide in regards to duty of care.
My familiarity with DM’s on the dive is that unless you specifically hire them for YOUR dive then they are are just there to point out stuff. They mostly work for tips. Why would someone working for tips want to be saddled with the responsibility of someone else not dying.
On the other hand if you specifically seek out and pay for a guide and mentorship then that’s another story. From my limited ability to comprehend that gives the hired hand liability for the entire operation. PADI tells people to do DSD’s for professional advice. It’s the professional advice that comes to play. Otherwise PADI would tell people to get on an online scuba forum and ask for advice on how to safely do something they have never done before. SDI/TDI promotes doing pinnacle dives with experienced or professional people.
The point is that you don’t know what you are doing. Therefore you put your safety in the hands of someone who does know what they are doing. At that point in my mind liability comes down to did I hire someone to assist me, or did I just go diving with joe blow who is also looking for a buddy.
Expectations should all be discussed THOROUGHLY prior to splashing. particularly when you pay for a service.