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

[cbm32]

Wow...........just, Wow. Freaked out over a flooded mask? Professionals all excited over an optional safety stop being missed? Is this a script for "The Keystone Cops Try Scuba"?

 

[Glenn08]

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.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Returning to 15ft to finish the safety stop is, frankly, the wrong thing to do. A missed "safety stop" should be simply ignored. There is nothing to be gained by returning to 15 fsw. A safety stop is, as you note, an extra buffer and except in the case of the "PADI Patch" should be ignored if "blown." Returning to redo a safety stop runs the addition (at least theoretical) risk of bubble pumping.

The depth is irrelevant, if they were in a no decompression status they should no re-pressurize, period. The Captain and crew are idiots, not to mention taking on the liability of sending a diver back down without reason.

As far as the idiotic crew members... How would they know that she performed her ascent at an acceptable rate? If they have reason to suspect that she ascended at 100 fpm (or more), would it still be idiotic to suggest that the diver go back to 20 feet and chill for 5 minutes?

 

[cbm32]

Maybe the same way they knew she missed a safety stop?

 

[dtownsend2000]

Sounds to me like she had no business diving in such deep water without refreshing her skill set first. Simple common sense!

 

[Thalassamania]

As far as the idiotic crew members... How would they know that she performed her ascent at an acceptable rate? If they have reason to suspect that she ascended at 100 fpm (or more), would it still be idiotic to suggest that the diver go back to 20 feet and chill for 5 minutes?

Doesn't really matter, if asymptomatic: observe on deck, if symptomatic: put on O2 and transport, there is no protocol for an operation like this to return a diver to the water FOR ANY MEDICAL REASON.

 

[Glenn08]

Yes, it is idiotic to put a diver suspected at risk for bends back in the water. Put the diver on oxygen.

 

[TSandM]

Thal is right. If you are worried that the diver is going to develop DCS symptoms, get them on the boat and on O2. If you aren't worried about it, they don't need to go back down and do the stop. The last thing on EARTH you want is a diver developing Type II symptoms underwater, especially if you don't have a) someone in the water monitoring the diver, and b) the means to get a paralyzed diver back on the boat, and c) a full face mask to make sure a diver who loses consciousness doesn't drop the reg and breathe water. It's just plain bad practice to put an at-risk diver back in the water, except in the case of a situation where you are pretty SURE you are going to have a bad outcome if the diver remains on the surface, medical treatment is not available anywhere within a reasonable time, AND you have the personnel and equipment to do real IWR.

Screaming at divers in the water is only justified in the setting of an imminent catastrophe -- someone who is about to get clobbered by the hull, or run over by an oncoming boat, or eaten by a shark. Screaming at divers never puts the person in the water in a BETTER frame of mind to handle whatever the issue is.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Doesn't really matter, if asymptomatic: observe on deck, if symptomatic: put on O2 and transport, there is no protocol for an operation like this to return a diver to the water FOR ANY MEDICAL REASON.

all I can say is, ....You guys must go through a lot of oxygen on your charter boat.

We had a guy blow up from 135 feet straight to the surface very fast about 10 weeks ago. I directed him to descend down to the divers ascending below him. He survived.

 

[Diver0001]

all I can say is, ....You guys must go through a lot of oxygen on your charter boat.

I think you have to listen to what he's saying through how he's saying it. Re-read Lynne's post. She puts the same point perfectly in a way that everyone can understand.

I also don't think the case we're talking about here is necessarily comparable to what you sketched. I had the impression in this case that a diver skipped a safety stop, not that they made an uncontrolled ascent from depth.

R..