Lusitania dive accident - insufficient insurance

[MykaDives]

That sounds excessive for most, but maybe your diving warrants such?


I may not understand your question. DAN Dive Insurance for US & Canada does include maximum limits for coverage, up to $500,000 USD. It seems to be the same for all Canadian provinces...

Ah, I can only see the first set of options (with the higher limits) when I go on the site. I have the Guardian coverage.

My diving doesn't warrant it at this moment, but I have an overlap right now changing from Dive Assure to DAN now that DAN is available in Canada again.

 

[Griffo]

So. Does anyone actually know anything factual about this accident? It must have been a hell of a lot of skipped deco to get hit that hard. I'd also be interested in knowing time between surface and the first pot session. My fear in an incident like this is always that they spent too long stuffing around in the hospital ER before getting you back under pressure.

 

[helodriver87]

So. Does anyone actually know anything factual about this accident? It must have been a hell of a lot of skipped deco to get hit that hard. I'd also be interested in knowing time between surface and the first pot session. My fear in an incident like this is always that they spent too long stuffing around in the hospital ER before getting you back under pressure.

I took a minor hit several months back. Type I in the right arm. It took 18 hours to get into a chamber. 4 of those were my fault because I tried to breathe surface O2 while driving home and convincing myself I wasn't bent. But the other 14 was pure hospital BS. I had to explain to multiple people what was going on and why I needed hyperbaric treatment. I even had to coordinate my own chamber treatment because the hospital didn't know where to send me. I'm lucky to be active duty military. I knew there was a hyperbaric unit at NAS Pensacola and was able to get their contact info to hospital staff and get the ball rolling. It cost nothing monetarily (thank you tricare), but it was a major wakeup call.

 

[rjack321]

It must have been a hell of a lot of skipped deco to get hit that hard.

no it doesnt.
A woman from Vancouver BC had a very severe hit in the red sea a few years ago with major paralysis. At least 12 or 15 chamber rides and I dont know if she ever regained full function.

She had no deco at all and barely any previous dives (it was day 1 or 2 of her trip)

 

[John the Pom]

So. Does anyone actually know anything factual about this accident? It must have been a hell of a lot of skipped deco to get hit that hard. I'd also be interested in knowing time between surface and the first pot session. My fear in an incident like this is always that they spent too long stuffing around in the hospital ER before getting you back under pressure.

Clearly there is a correlation between amount of missed deco and the degree of risk, but I believe there is also a strong 'bad luck' factor. A small bubble in a vital location could cause brain damage, paralysis, or death, while a similar bubble somewhere else might give you a sore knee.

But I agree that it would be very useful to know more facts about this tragic accident - especially what caused such an experienced diver, presumably with good support available following such a deep dive, to surface with a significant decompression deficit.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Hope he recovers from this. Please donate. Even if it’s an utter clown show that he didn’t have insurance.

Surely it’s time to make insurance mandatory? I mean what valid reason/argument does anyone have for not getting insurance?

Sorry for a likely ‘it’s not the time or place’ discussion....but FFS....WAY TOO many of these stories recently...millions of dollars wasted on go fund me requests because of no insurance...

 

[DandyDon]

Hope he recovers from this. Please donate. Even if it’s an utter clown show that he didn’t have insurance.

From what I hear of his dive history, I suspect that he had maximum dive insurance coverage, but he may well have maxed his benefits. That's my guess anyway.

Sorry for a likely ‘it’s not the time or place’ discussion....but FFS....WAY TOO many of these stories recently...millions of dollars wasted on go fund me requests because of no insurance...

I'll agree with that. I have limited sympathy for travelers who don't bother with trip insurance of divers who skip dive insurance, but I doubt that is the case here.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I hope that’s the case, although one would think that would be stated all over the go fund me/ reports etc. A;though it would make more sense that there was an issue with his insurance other than him not having any, i find not having it harder to believe..

At the end of the day, money is just money and his family needs it now, so please everyone help, he saved another diver’s life..but also anyone diving, the need for gofundmes for avoidable reasons are piling up recently. Please/ please get the goddamn right ‘full coverage’ insurance and don’t create a nightmare for others with search & rescue/ repatriation/ bankrupting families to bring you back etc.etc. There is no excuse. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford to dive..

If you can’t get insured for the dive, don’t do the goddamn dive.. and make sure you know that you are covered for all depths/locations/injuries for your plan..

 

[DandyDon]

This says that the repatriation is expected to cost $90,000 so their Gofundme is for $100,000. They've raised a little over $70k. I donated.

Excerpt from Paralyzed Canadian scuba diver, hero stranded in Irish hospital

“An older woman (came) to the hospital to give me 100 euros ($145), because she couldn’t make a donation on the GoFundMe page. And I just told her I will never forget you,” said Chadwick.

 

[Diver below 83]

Canadian diver paralysed following incident at Lusitania

states in this article the diver did not have insurance. “As Mr Martin does not have insurance, a friend of the couple set up a GoFundMe page in August to help with costs. ”