Less than Professional?

[Rambo13]

One week ago today there was a fatal accident in Laguna Beach, The Los Angeles Times prints "Diver Dead After Openwater Class" and other than the victims age and city of residence no other details. Now this by itself isn't new to anyone reading the news as even when they do get it right it is usually twisted to sell more papers.

What distresses me is in looking into this matter Nobody is clear on what happen or at least is coming forward. You see today, I was at the very site of this tragic event with my own open water class and shortly after canceling do to Very Large surf another group of about 25 (adults and children) arrived and began climbing out on the tidepool area. Since this area was beginning to be POUNDED by surf we decided to stick around just in case.

As it turns out things did go sidewas a little and some of the group needed help getting off the rocks to the safety of the beach. In conversation I learned this was the family of the victim looking for a few answers and a little closure. You see when the incident occured NOBODY contacted the family, it was the police that made the call some 6 1/2 hours after the hospital pronounced death. And as of today that is the only call the family received. Nobody from the store or the Instructor have attempted to contact the family and they would like to know why.

There are emergency contact numbers on the student folders for a reason, the obvious argument is the legal aspects for not talking to the family, but notification that there was a problem that day and what Hospital to go to is minimum of professionalism. Not to mention the Right thing to do. The family shouldn't have to wait over 6 hrs to be notified, and I'm equally amazed that a week later that is the only contact anyone has made with the family.

Is it me or does this just stink to everyone else? Is this what our society has come to? The fear of legal action shouldn't over ride ethics. Stand up and at least tell the family how sorry for their loss you are even if that is all you can/have to say.

Any thoughts?

 

[Cacia]

Good point about the emergency number.

The legal aspects are quickly taking over many aspects of civilized society.

As an RN I am wondering why the ER did not call, as he would need to arrive there to at least be pronounced dead.(More than likely there was an extended rescusitation attempt for an hour or so) I did emergency transport in that county and that is the procedure most places, I think. The ER (MIssion probably) should have notified the family to come to the ER, and at that time, a nurse or ER physician would inform them, provide counseling support, etc.

The next aspect you are raising, the one of decency, also happens to overlap with an important principle of risk management. This principle is that the relationship and human relations aspect is a major factor in whether a lawsuit is filed. So, not only would the follow-up be the decent thing to do, it would also mitigate the shop/instructor's legal exposure. When someone dies or is injured here, most operator's high tail it to the bedside, send flowers etc.

 

[Snowbear]

Yeah - leaving the family wondering like that will only make them start thinking that someone did something wrong. I agree that it was not only unprofessional, but very poor judgement for the shop not to contact the family.

They don't have to say what happened, and probably shouldn't if they don't know for sure, but at the very least let the family know that the diver had a problem while diving and was transported to whatever hospital.

 

[LadyScuba]

Fear of legal action, unsure what to say, indifference or callousness....either way, it does stink!!!

My first reaction when reading your post was to ask the question, "what shop and who are these jerks?" so I can make sure I never take one penny of my business there. Please do not actually answer the question.

So much of diving is the interaction between divers and their friends and families. Diving creates a certain bond because it is inherently dangerous even though we make it as safe as possible and accidents are rare. We need to be there for each other, not just when the water is 85 degrees with 100 feet of viz. We need to be there for each other, warts and all.

In my mind, that shop and instructor owes that young man's family an apology. They may have done everything right regarding the actual diving, but they have not done right by his family.

I'm done ranting for now. I am so disappointed to read your post but do appreciate you putting it out there.

PS - glad you called off your class today. Not only were the waves a bit larger than usual, the scum was particulary far spread and brownish in color. It is nice to hear of an instructor who teaches when not to dive. My group went at Crescent, called the dive and went to breakfast. We ran into another group at Crescent that we know who did the same. Then there was the couple we saw leave but ran into at Mountain and they were donning their gear. Conditions did not look as bad as at Crescent but it still didn't look worth it. One of them made a comment about us being jealous and we laughed. That made it that much harder to muster sympathy when they called the dive after losing gear on entry. Tough lessons can be the ones best learned.

 

[MoonWrasse]

This is just wrong. It sounds like a failure on multiple counts, and in the case of the dive school/instructor it doesn't make them look competent.

Hopefully there's more to the story than this - perhaps the contact # was wrong.

 

[DandyDon]

This is just wrong. It sounds like a failure on multiple counts, and in the case of the dive school/instructor it doesn't make them look competent.

Hopefully there's more to the story than this - perhaps the contact # was wrong.

Yep. The next action by my family, early on, would be in show up at the dive shop: the "in your face" approach. Not too good for retail business to have the grieving family in the show room asking questions...

 

[Darnold9999]

For another point of view, you are getting only one side of the situation, and from a group of people that are probably not all that rational at the moment. They have lost a family member and are looking for answers when there may be no answers, blaming the shop/instructor/anyone is to be expected. It is entirely possible that the shop/instructor did in fact contact someone but this fact is getting lost in the grief and the search for the person "responsible" for the death and the often unaswerable "why".

Just a thought, and one that may be completely off base.

 

[Willie]

For another point of view, you are getting only one side of the situation ... Just a thought, and one that may be completely off base.

Very good point. I dont think you are off base at all. We dont know the whole story. I am glad the OP provided this info. I am not defending the shop/instructor and not accusing them either. Not enough info for either, IMO.

Was there ever any more info about the accident? What was the age/sex of the victim? Was this first time OW or an advanced class? Anyone know? I sure wish we had an anonymous reporting system like pilots have. Then we might get a lot more info.

Willie