Lusitania dive accident - insufficient insurance

[chillyinCanada]

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. ”

That was the earlier article. The more recent article says:

"Martin didn’t have adequate insurance and Chadwick is hoping to raise enough funds to get Martin home to Canada."

To me that would suggest that he'd had some, unfortunately not enough.

Repatriation flights are tremendously expensive especially with the medical setup he'll need.
I was surprised to see a quote of only $90,000 because when I wanted to bring my father home, it was going to be $250,000 and he didn't need that level of care.

 

[DandyDon]

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. ”

Your link goes to the Gofundme page. laikabear's link includes that quote, but surely it's a mistake. My link includes "Martin didn’t have adequate insurance," which would say he exhausted what he had. I suspect he had the maximum, but two brain surgeries on top of the rest could use all of that. I'm just guessing. The top DAN plan in Canada includes $50K for Home Country Medical Evacuation. If he had a lower plan, it would not provide for medical repatriation.

 

[DandyDon]

News reports vary. This one says he forgot to renew his dive insurance...
Excerpting from Ontario man could face more than $300K in hospital bills after diving accident off Ireland | CBC News

Also, Martin had not purchased insurance before traveling to Ireland. Divers are commonly covered by the Divers Insurance Network but Chadwick says Martin forgot to renew his membership before the trip.

"It was something that I kind of nagged him about, and we had a couple of little tiffs about before the dive," she said.

Chadwick is expecting Martin's hospital bills to exceed $360,000, most of which would have been covered by insurance had Martin renewed his membership. But Chadwick says now is not the time to worry about that.

"All of the doctors and the nurses just reassure me, 'That's not your focus right now,'" she said. 'That's a bill that will come later; you really need to just be here with Kim.'"

Insurance would have also helped with the cost of repatriating Martin. To get back home, he a needs private plane specifically designed for this type of trip.

"It's a fully equipped ICU, with a ventilator on board and anything Kim might need in case of emergency," Chadwick said.

I guess auto renewal is a good idea for DAN dive insurance. I renew mine annually even tho my trips are down to one or two a year. I also take pretty good trip insurance anytime I leave the country that would probably cover my diving nowadays, but I travel alone so in case I'm hurt and unable to argue with the insurance company myself - I like being fully covered. I also nag my daughter to get trip insurance anytime they leave the country, and get the better plan instead of the cheaper one they had the time my granddaughter lost her passport in China.

 

[Diver below 83]

Your link goes to the Gofundme page. laikabear's link includes that quote, but surely it's a mistake. My link includes "Martin didn’t have adequate insurance," which would say he exhausted what he had. I suspect he had the maximum, but two brain surgeries on top of the rest could use all of that. I'm just guessing. The top DAN plan in Canada includes $50K for Home Country Medical Evacuation. If he had a lower plan, it would not provide for medical repatriation.

I didn’t realize I copied the link for the fund me page. I was just copying the quote about him not having insurance. I guess they included an embedded link there

 

[chillyinCanada]

News reports vary. This one says he forgot to renew his dive insurance...
Excerpting from Ontario man could face more than $300K in hospital bills after diving accident off Ireland | CBC News


I guess auto renewal is a good idea for DAN dive insurance. I renew mine annually even tho my trips are down to one or two a year. I also take pretty good trip insurance anytime I leave the country that would probably cover my diving nowadays, but I travel alone so in case I'm hurt and unable to argue with the insurance company myself - I like being fully covered. I also nag my daughter to get trip insurance anytime they leave the country, and get the better plan instead of the cheaper one they had the time my granddaughter lost her passport in China.

I'm stunned about the insurance situation.

 

[Ayisha]

On Friday, DAN posted on their Facebook page, "DON'T LET YOUR DAN MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS EXPIRE", with some information about renewals and what to do if your credit card expired.

The timing seemed a little suspect, IMHO, when people were asking quite strongly about his insurance status.
When people were posting all over social media about DAN apparently not covering the Conception liveaboard tragedy, they got ahead of the bad publicity and posted their own fundraiser. People were no longer up in arms about it. IMHO.

Divers Alert Network

 

[DandyDon]

I'm stunned about the insurance situation.

I know. All this time I've been thinking how can a diver travel internationally to dive to those depths without the top plan offered? His fiance even nagged him.

When people were posting all over social media about DAN apparently not covering the Conception liveaboard tragedy

Well, as horrible as it was, it was not a diving accident. Why would anyone expect Dive Insurance to cover. DAN is just the insurance agent.

And it was not DAN's place to address this diver's coverage. That's his personal business. I would think an explanation would have been appropriate on the gofundme page. I share
Ministryofgiraffes' feelings about people depending on gofundme drives instead of insurance. I'm glad I donated some tho, hope more do, as he needs to get home.

 

[happy-diver]

What a shame

 

[Marie13]

My DAN insurance (I get the highest plan) renews in November. That’s just the way it happened (got certified in Oct, then got the insurance a month later). So I’m covered for all my April-Oct dives without worrying about it expiring.

I’m also stunned about the diver’s insurance situation. I’m also stunned he apparently wasn’t weighted properly for the dive, per the article posted. Surely for a dive that deep you’ve been doing dives in preparation for it, and so would have your weights dialed in.

 

[wgw04024]

I check my DAN status before dive trips specifically. it's just habit due to the extreme costs if something happens compared to how inexpensive it is and ease of use if needed.