Instructor sentenced after diver's death

[tomcatbubba]

And did he do a weight check pre dive? He should have known before they got deep he was overweighted.

Again, things certified divers know they should do with a major gear configuration change. Not saying all do it, but they are taught that in ow class.

 

[decompression]

This case involves a familiar argument on ScubaBoard. What is the liability of a dive guide when guiding certified divers?

First, let's fill in some details I got from translating articles with google--which is clearly how much of the phrasing of the OP came into existence. The instructor in the case was not teaching a class--he was guiding a dive that had been given to the female diver as a gift certificate. The male was her boyfriend. The dive shop through which they did the dive failed to provide the requested higher capacity tanks for divers with a known problem with air consumption. They also provided 5mm suits for a dive at temperatures around 5 degrees C (41 degrees F)--nowhere near enough thermal protection. Finally, the divers were apparently seriously overweighted as well. During the dive, the guide did not monitor air consumption, leading to a rapid ascent from great depth. The guide stopped them and dumped air from their BCDs. He apparently dumped too much, and the overweighted divers plummeted. The female finally got to the surface, but at depth the guide panicked and went to the surface alone, leaving the male at the bottom.

In a typical ScubaBoard argument, some people argue that a guide of certified divers is just a guide, with no responsibility for the safety of the people being guided. Others argue that the guide does indeed have a responsibility for the safety of customers--that's primarily why they are hired to guide the dive. This is especially true in this case, where the customers had nothing but minimal warm water diving experience and had no way of knowing the dangers involved with diving at such temperatures and are likely to trust the guide's experience in telling them that their 5mm suits were OK for those temperatures, that their weighting was correct for those wetsuits, and the small (10L) tanks they were using had enough gas for the depths they were diving.

The liability in such cases varies greatly with local law. When Gabe Watson's wife perished on a dive in Australia, he had to plead guilty to manslaughter based on a local law that held him liable for her rescue, even though he was not a professional. In Malta recently, a diver was indicted for murder in a case when divers died of natural causes on a dive, simply because he was the most experienced diver in the group and supposedly should have known that the conditions were too rough and would lead to a diver having pulmonary immersion edema. (Those charges were eventually dropped.)

Good summary, thanks John.

 

[boulderjohn]

One of the many threads we have had on this topic took place in the Cozumel forum. As usual, the most strident opinions were those saying that the guide has absolutely no responsibility to care for you--you are on your own whenever you dive. Two of the participants were owners of dive operations. They both said they absolutely expect their dive guides to care for their customers and keep them safe. That is what they are paying them for.

 

[Schwob]

Yes, they requested 15l tanks, which were not available and yes they were appeased by being offered 12l tanks and yes they were actually only given 10l tanks. And yes they were underdressed. Although in one of the linked articles it states the victim was additionally given a dive vest (they called it an ice vest) which he elected not to wear. And yes he was weighted too much and yes, the guide could have noticed and adjusted that (e.g. to make up for the not worn vest... or better he could have made sure exposure protection and weighting are correct... he could have... but I do think the ultimate responsibility lies with the certified diver for that - but that's probably contestable forever...

What I wonder about is the UW part. So a hired guide, who is a certified instructor, makes an attempt to stop the uncontrolled ascend of the paniced and succeeds at first ... maybe with all three of them holding onto each other... that part is murky... but deflates too much and the GF if the victim "rescues herself" (odd description, she regains control and ascends ... one of the linked articles also states that she stated that she suffered narcosis and disorientation at depth).

So anyway, the guide stays with the (probably still or again) panicked victim and in that way abandoning the victims GF in a way (who however seems to have regained control). Now it says (somewhere there) that GF says they indicated 110 bar at 36 feet and indicated they want to turn the dive... it is not clear how that then turned to the uncontrolled ascend (obviously inflating instead of kicking up)... but it reads like they bounced from 36m with 110 bar to 10m and then "tumbled" back down... and the guide stayed with the victim for just a very few minutes before abandoning the victim in fear of his own life... it is unclear, because not stated clearly, but it does, to me, appear like the guide (with presumably much better air consumption than the victim) abandoned the victim (to be found dead an hour later on the 40m floor (local spot, I think the lake goes deeper) long before having a reason to from an air supply point of view. If so, I find that odd. Very odd. Maybe so did the judge. If so and this being Germany then the sentence looks light to me too. My understanding is that in Germany there is basic a legal obligation to aid if aid can be given without or minimal risk to ones life... now the guide abandoned the victim due to fear for his own life... those are the necessary words to get out of that bind... but if he were to have done so prior to running closer to critically low on his own air supply, that would imho change things a bit.... but the article does not mention anything of the guide's air supply status...

Questions:
So, those of us who took a rescue class practised this at least once in a mock scenario... but how is it in reality... how hard is it really to overcome a sturdy, maybe violently panicked diver (presumably from below and behind) and clamp on and initiate ascend....
If those very experienced divers of you where in that scenario, what would be your game plan? How would your see your odds? Why?

I am embarassed to say, but I am thinking: Man, my willingness to risk my own live might quite vary pending on who the victim is... (kid, spouse, friend, customer, stranger...)

And I am also wondering: While it would not necessarily change the outcome (but maybe could), if the panicked diver cannot be overcome and if the potential rescuer had sufficient air to do so and would not need to exceed a depth the rescuer deems safe for him/herself... would it then be better to let the panicked diver run out of air and then try a (probably too late) rescue?

And the really stupid question:
Is there possibly a "golden moment" while running out of air where one, prior to being dead or drowned is "just" incapacitated enough (deep enough in CO trouble?) to be too tired to fight in panic, but still rescuable?

(Edit: the latter seems to be a good and accepted strategy with about to become drowning victims at the surface, ... of course UW is a notably different...)

 

[tomcatbubba]

John, in no way am I suggesting the guide bears no responsibility, quite the contrary, he did a lot of foolish things, and probably deserved the sentence.

I am saying the divers don’t bear zero responsibility.

I’m teaching my kids to dive right now. I cannot for the life of me fathom telling them to put their complete faith and trust in a guide after they are certified and doing discover local scuba dives. No way.

 

[Miyaru]

I agree with the judge in this case: simply leaving him behind is unacceptable.
This instructor made a whole range of bad decisions.

Obviously the divers had contacted the diveshop earlier. Their experience - 25 sea dives in Croatia - is, to me, a sign that they are highly inexperienced for a dive in a mountain lake. As a dive pro, it's your job to address every aspect an inexperienced diver does not or cannot think of.

The articles do not state if both divers were educated for this specific dive (800m altitude requires additional NDL knowledge).
The divers expressed their concern with regards to gas consumption. A good dive instructor knows that colder water will drive air consumption to higher levels. Still the instructor shows up with small tanks.
5mm wetsuits - where did these come from? The shop should have advised against these during the first contact. And since it's a diveshop - I can't believe they had no 7mm wetsuits in stock for these people.
This dive had several shades of wrong before it was even conducted.

 

[Wookie]

So I'm looking at a case, where in an American court, if the survivor successfully sued the instructor, the instructor would have paid out significantly more than thirtysomethinghundred dollars. It seems that someone found the divers to be somewhat responsible for themselves, based on the amount of the fine.

 

[Umuntu]

So I'm looking at a case, where in an American court, if the survivor successfully sued the instructor, the instructor would have paid out significantly more than thirtysomethinghundred dollars. It seems that someone found the divers to be somewhat responsible for themselves, based on the amount of the fine.

I wouldn't draw any such conclusions from the amount of the fine in a German criminal case.

The approach to "Crime and Punishment" is very very different between the USA and Europe. With the USA over-focused on Punishment as a form of a Retribution.

In a criminal case the European approach to sentencing is more focused on Rehabilitation. It is hard to see what purpose a long custodial sentence would serve in a "misadventure" such as this.

Of course the victims family may yet bring a civil claim against the instructor, but even if successful the damages award by a panel of professional judges are unlikely to be as eye-watering high as US jury awards.

 

[Edward3c]

In our training we practice rescues from a solid bottom, as I believe all agencies do. Should we start looking at how we train to rescue a negative buoyant diver whilst descending?

 

[Wookie]

In our training we practice rescues from a solid bottom, as I believe all agencies do. Should we start looking at how we train to rescue a negative buoyant diver whilst descending?

Would you guide a warm water diver on a cold water dive in a place that is essentially bottomless? Someone you don't know? I don't think that's standard fare anywhere.