Info Is DAN Insurance worthwhile?

[JoeTPhilly]

I found the video eye opening. I was under the impression that "Help Is Just A Phone Call Away" like it says on the DAN website. Based on the video, I no longer have that much confidence in DAN.

 

[34109411]

It's not that simple. DAN must arrange the full works - evacuation (ambulance, airplane etc.), a doctor to accompany you and the correct facility has to be ready for you. They can't just a book a random plane to move you from one hospital to another, in case that your symptoms worsen.

i was under the impression it was faster, bahamas is what 75 miles off the cost of florida ? it s not like he was in the middle of the pacific? i am sure there is medvac available in miami and fort lauderdale. i will had flown directly there and not bother with treatment in the bahamas.

 

[FabletheRaven]

It's not that simple. DAN must arrange the full works - evacuation (ambulance, airplane etc.), a doctor to accompany you and the correct facility has to be ready for you. They can't just a book a random plane to move you from one hospital to another, in case that your symptoms worsen.

Why not just a paramedic? A doctor on board can't do anything. Imagine if every time a guy had a heart attack you needed a board certified cardiologist on the ambulance. It makes no sense. Ge them to the hospital, get them to the chamber. If a sick guy with a cellphone and CC can order a medivac DAN should be able to do the same.

 

[The Chairman]

did it take long to sort it out ? From your experience why it s was so complicated for woody ?

I don't know what happened with Woody. The only problem we had was with the name "DAN". They actually use another company to underwrite them, and they were fully recognized. It absolutely did not impede the surgery I got to put in plates on my tibia and fibia. I couldn't imagine trying to get home on anything but first class.

 

[34109411]

Why not just a paramedic? A doctor on board can't do anything. Imagine if every time a guy had a heart attack you needed a board certified cardiologist on the ambulance. It makes no sense. Ge them to the hospital, get them to the chamber. If a sick guy with a cellphone and CC can order a medivac DAN should be able to do the same.

totally agree

 

[Whitrzac]

Woody is a millionaire, he just sold his $5million condo last spring.

Unless you have the ability to put $30k+ on a credit card while in a foreign country DAN/similar insurance is the only option to get proper care.

 

[34109411]

ohh i am not a millionaire. would i ve been able to get 30 000$ us to save my life ? most likely

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

totally agree

He was in a hospital already. He had symptoms consistent with IPO, not DCS (unless they skipped few details in the video). If you suffer from IPO, you might need to get intubated, so you are better off being in a hospital rather than on the road. It might resolve on its own. I'm not an expert but IPO is not a candidate for recompression in the chamber. It's easy to get treatment if you swipe your credit card, which could be the reason why he got the shorter Table 5 initially and no follow-up treatments the next day.

Moving between hospitals is not like in the movies - you need to plan for the worst.

In any case, they should've called DAN right when they got out of the water, not several hours later.

From DAN's perspective, if you had symptoms for several hours, cleared your gear and ate a steak, and still describe your symptoms as life-or-death - you might be exaggerating just a little bit. So the best course of action could be observation in the hospital rather than immediate evacuation. Perhaps if he could not walk (neurological DCS) and called immediately, he would get transport to a chamber much faster?

 

[JoeTPhilly]

He was diagnosed with DCS in the hospital by the doctor. Should DAN be overriding medical personnel?

 

[cerich]

I know of many cases where DAN came thru, and cases where not so much.

I believe that sometimes with type 2 DCS their process/lack of urgency is too slow that can leave lasting impacts on teh victim due to the nature of type 2 DCS.

I know that a few years ago in a case I was involved with that calling DAN was waste of time and had their suggested path (which was in Florida yet the timeframes that DAN laid out to get treatment were actually longer than the timeframes they told Gus and Woody) been followed the bent diver would have been most likely had severe long lasting impariments. We instead took another path that did work and the diver made full recovery, but truthfully most divers would not have had the resources/expertise/experience readily available to follow the path we did.

My advice is have DAN insurance, and other travel insurance and when thinsg go wrong, expect additional curve balls.