Missed safety stop...told to go back down and complete?

[phoenix31tt]

i think everything must be taken in context..

1. a safety stop is just that... a safety stop.. to help minimize or prevent the risk of dcs (i.e. its a just in case).. its still not a deco stop

2. current on the safety stop and the diver couldn't even clear her mask... i think someone would be crazy to send that diver back down.. seems like asking for more trouble to me...

for THIS scenario taking 1 and 2 into context I would agree that the operator should not have yelled at her to get back down

 

[Diver0001]

Now I make no pretense that I am an expert in decompression strategies, but it is my understanding that "the norm" is for a diver to redescend for an omitted decompression stop IF it can be done a.Quickly and b. With plenty of gas and c. Diver is asymptomatic.

That's correct and there are various strategies for padding the missed stops if one has to re-descend and repeat them. It's more than just a simple case of picking up where you left off.

Peter, I see a difference between a "mandatory safety stop", which this diver would have had after a dive to 120ft, and a decompression stop but it's an interesting point. I've always thought of a safety stop (mandatory or not) as a strategy for controlling total ascent speed.

I guess a safety stop is like taking an aspirin to avoid getting a headache and a deco stop is taking an aspirin because you have a headache.

R..

 

[Serge Tao]

Yelling at a distressed diver in the water is certainly not professional. Regardless of what that diver might have done wrong.

 

[vladimir]

Now I make no pretense that I am an expert in decompression strategies, but it is my understanding that "the norm" is for a diver to redescend for an omitted decompression stop IF it can be done a.Quickly and b. With plenty of gas and c. Diver is asymptomatic.

I would add: d) The diver can clear her mask calmly.

I know you are aiming for general principles to follow, but in this specific case I think she was much better off on the boat, and she knew it. Whatever principles we arrive at are for the diver's guidance, not the guys on the boat who are in no position to evaluate the entirety of the diver's situation.

 

[supergaijin]

A no-deco dive is when one can safely surface without exceeding an M-Value.

Certain tables ie. RTSC require mandatory safety stops (is this just not another word for 'deco stop'?) if diving to a certain depth and/or for a certain time. As stated previously, a max depth of 120' is in this 'mandatory stop' zone.

A diver in distress is not safe to return for either a missed 'mandatory SS' or a deco stop. This diver sounded pretty distressed.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Well said. The safest place in onboard the boat. To those who disagree - do you know what is required in medical expertise, exposure protection, compressed gases, to properly support a recompression regimen ? If the crew were concerned about her safety, they would have put her on pure oxygen, laying down, and angled with her feet highest.

Left lateral Trendelenburg is no longer recommended for treatment of DCI symptoms. The rationale is that it could increase intracranial pressure in the event of a central neurological hit.