IPE in technical diver

[crofrog]

Close Call | Lessons for Life

A likely case of immersion pulmonary edema leads to a dive emergency

www.scubadiving.com

Derek immediately brought Rhonda to the surface. During the ascent, Rhonda’s regulator fell from her mouth. Derek attempted to put it back in Rhonda’s mouth, but it wouldn’t stay in place.

As soon as they reached the surface the dive crew helped get Rhonda back on the boat and initiated the diver recall system to bring all of the divers back on board. Rhonda was still unresponsive on the boat, and the crew immediately began CPR. Rhonda briefly regained consciousness, vomited and lost consciousness again. However, she continued breathing on her own. At the dock, emergency medical services evacuated her to a local emergency department, where she received life-saving treatment."

...

If you are assisting a diver to the surface—as Derek did in this situation—do so safely. Make a normal ascent and complete any obligatory decompression stops along the way. Triggering a case of decompression sickness on top of the IPE would only make matters worse.

I think the above 2 quotes from the article are interesting. I'm curious what the views are on continue to do decompression stops with an unresponsive and not breathing diver, versus blowing the deco off and getting the diver to a place where they can start to receive medical care.

 

[Whitrzac]

The point is to not kill/injure yourself trying to help someone thats already mostly dead.

 

[crofrog]

The point is to not kill/injure yourself trying to help someone thats already mostly dead.

But totally survivable if properly addressed in a timely fashion

 

[Cthippo]

Risk a lot to save a lot
Risk a little to save a little
Risk nothing to save what is already lost.

 

[J-Vo]

Nothing is black and white. Pushing myself to a GF 110 to save a life is a bit different than blowing off an hour of deco with a surfacing GF 350.

Everyone knows the risk going into the dive. Unresponsive and not breathing when your buddies have 90 minutes of deco left is going to get you a rocket ride to the surface and a lot of hopes and prayers.

 

[happy-diver]

But totally survivable if properly addressed in a timely fashion

 

[crofrog]

Nothing is black and white. Pushing myself to a GF 110 to save a life is a bit different than blowing off an hour of deco with a surfacing GF 350.

Everyone knows the risk going into the dive. Unresponsive and not breathing when your buddies have 90 minutes of deco left is going to get you a rocket ride to the surface and a lot of hopes and prayers.

Exactly the sort of thoughts I had. I don't think the answer is nearly as black as white as "complete all required stops"

 

[Dsix36]

A great deal of this concern (if not all of it) should be understood by all parties involved long before the dive ever begins. The risks should be openly discussed and plans put into place for emergencies. Everyone should be on the same page with full understanding and agreement.
I have done a few dives that required safety divers, surface support, etc and I made darn sure that everyone know that they were never to violate there individual plans to help me. I firmly belive it would be better for me to die alone than to end up taking another diver with me.

 

[BlueTrin]

A great deal of this concern (if not all of it) should be understood by all parties involved long before the dive ever begins. The risks should be openly discussed and plans put into place for emergencies. Everyone should be on the same page with full understanding and agreement.
I have done a few dives that required safety divers, surface support, etc and I made darn sure that everyone know that they were never to violate there individual plans to help me. I firmly belive it would be better for me to die alone than to end up taking another diver with me.

That sounds very sensible, would you mind sharing for illustration what you’d agree on for the example? Not blowing more than X mins of deco or something like this?

 

[Dsix36]

Not exceeding the planned depth limits or time at depth, thus not incurring more than planned deco. That is the big one. It is extremely simple to really get your deco obligation out of control by getting task loaded and not paying sufficient attention to depth and time.

Blowing off 5 minutes of deco off could very well get a person bent depending on how aggressive there dive plan was. This is something that has to be decided "on the fly" by the individual. Is there enough support to go back down to finish off deco if just bringing someone up might make a big difference in the decision.

I like to plan conservative enough that small indiscretions in the plan will not become dangerous