Info Is DAN Insurance worthwhile?

[auto]

Only two letters, but quite an important word. Dan's not known to pussyfoot around. They certainly didn't do that for me.

Again, the best way to treat an injury is to never have one. Plan your dive in such a way that you'll never need to go to a chamber. It's all about limits. Know them. Honor them.

Exactly.... They didn't pussyfoot around when I called in the US about some minor DCS, they said go to ER, same with one of my buddies who was very sick. Funny in the incident being discussed, they said just wait when the cost of air and medevac was at issue, i.e. probably someone they had a contract with, but that is speculation.

Now for the next part, I find the next part of your post intellectually dishonest and entitled about diving injuries. Do you know how to plan for a PFO since most people don't know they have one? Plenty of people have hits following dive plans that are perfectly safe according to tables/science/algorithms, I even had one of those medical professional people called a doctor tell me the same.

The issue I am interested in, is DAN and their response. Not placing blame on the divers, nor why you never should be injured. Sometimes, **** just happens. Science ain't exact.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

Only two letters, but quite an important word. Dan's not known to pussyfoot around. They certainly didn't do that for me.

Again, the best way to treat an injury is to never have one. Plan your dive in such a way that you'll never need to go to a chamber. It's all about limits. Know them. Honor them.

Then why even bother with insurance?

 

[SlugLife]

It's called Dive Talk not Dive Instruction.
Why is everyone looking to them like fallen angels?
They enjoy analyzing and critiquing other divers videos. I'm sure they would not mind others critiquing theirs, sans the ugly vitriol on display here.

Exactly. Critique. I'm sure Gus and Woody (and many others) would love to learn from this incident. Afterall, I'm sure none of us (including Woody) want to be in the situation Woody was in. Ever. For example:

• Having contingency plans if you're injured, especially in an area with limited healthcare resources.
• Perhaps an additional "Plan C" is needed for emergencies, beyond "Plan B" of relying on DAN.
• Delaying treatment and contacting DAN when having what looks like DSC is probably a bad idea.
• A potentially injured diver, should communicate they're feeling off better, and divers around them should better monitor the situation.
• When traveling abroad, you may need some backup plans so you can pre-pay for medical care if needed.
• If you can't adequately plan a response for a potential emergency in an area, maybe it's best to not dive there.
• Perhaps dehydration was a contributing factor that Woody had control of.
• Maybe understand better how Woody got DCS in the first place, so it can be avoided.

Sometimes, **** just happens. Science ain't exact.

Sadly, that seems to have played a big role here. Only Woody was injured, and comments I've seen about the dive-profile say it looked conservative.

edit: I'm sure Woody would love to know precisely how he got injured on this dive too.

 

[CT-Rich]

With the DAN time line, If Dan said sit tight we’ll have an evac in two hours, in two hours twenty minutes, they are having someone freaking out on the phone. If they say 24 hours and call back in two hours and say, “we’ll have a plane plane there in an hour.” Which is a better result? In both cases the plane shows up in three hours.

There are 700 islands in the Bahama and 41 airstrips and the area was leveled in 2019. And that is just one dive destination, that sees how many divers a year? Now, multiply that by the entire world. Any place that people are dumb enough to climb in the water and get bent/hurt enough to require a chamber or evac.

I bet in your typical resort locations like the Caymans, Coz or Phuket, they have pretty well oiled machinery. I am interested to see what come of this, hopefully something good for the dive community.

 

[SlugLife]

I bet in your typical resort locations like the Caymans, Coz or Phuket, they have pretty well oiled machinery. I am interested to see what come of this, hopefully something good for the dive community.

It almost sounds like a "coverage" map might be useful, similar to a cell-phone coverage map.

For example, how would you know if the location your diving does, or doesn't have the ability to treat dive-related injuries? I suspect 99.8% of divers on vacation don't call ahead, and check local hospitals for what kind of dive-related treatments are available, nor would that be very efficient. DAN probably has some of that information. Afterall, they likely need that info, and encounter that info on a regular basis. "SlugMug has DCS near Austin, there's a chamber at Y hospital and 2 doctors familiar with scuba-injuries. For more comprehensive treatment, there's a facility in Dallas." I can intuitively guess treatments likely available in an area, but don't actually know.

That way if people do complex/dangerous/etc dives in a "red" area, help is still on the way, but it might take a long longer to get there.

 

[Centrals]

I have two insurances when travelling and DAN is one of them. I had never made a claim in whatever circumstances. And I hope it will stay this way.
My room-mate, on a LoB, needed chamber treatment in Maldives many yrs ago and he has travel insurance. Unfortunately the local chamber operator only recognized DAN and some others but NOT the one he has. So he had to pay for himself(plastic) and luckily the treatment was simple so the limit was NOT exceeded.

 

[Centrals]

That way if people do complex/dangerous/etc dives in a "red" area, help is still on the way, but it might take a long longer to get there.

A tec diver from HK was sent to a chamber in Philippines for emergency treatment unfortunately it was already occupied. He did not survive.

 

[galodoido]

Perhaps dehydration was a contributing factor that Woody had control of.

I don't know about you guys, but it is shocking to me that a Cave CCR diver decides to do a 150 minute dive wearing a drysuit with no pee valve... That just speaks volumes

 

[tursiops]

Sometimes, **** just happens. Science ain't exact.

People love to say this. It is right up there with the "deco algorithms aren't perfect, therefore they are just guesses." Or, "it is just a theory."

But the science (embedded in the dive computer's algorithm) does not take into account the diver's CO2 or hydration status....or personal physiology. It isn't that the science isn't exact, but rather that it is incomplete for *you*, the diver, unless you are the mythical average person. In this case, the computer did not know about the diver's admitted dehydration...and would not have been able to include the info anyway. It is up to the *diver* to adjust the dive...or not do it.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

34109411:
i am surprise also they didn't thing about in water recompression

Absolutely, but was a full face mask available and sufficient gas and personnel?

FFM might be the preferable option to have but most definitely not a necessity for IWR of a conscious and alert diver. I have an 80AL of 100% on my boat for both in water and surface O2 options. Probably better discussed in another thread..