My trip in the Cozumel Chamber (very long)

[pilot fish]

James, it is not the dive that is in question but his lack of reasonable treatment AFTER the dive. No, they cannot be faulted for what happened during the dive, undeserved hit, but to not offer oxygen, an essential, is a mjor mistake. It is part of their duty, any dive ops duty. Wasn't there even a question if oxygen was onboard in the first place? BTW, the dive op in question did not call a doctor, Christi did.

Giving oxygen is not practicing medicine but offering minimal care. How would it have hurt if he was in fact seasick, or had food poisioning? That should be a crews first reaction, give 02. At the very least this crew needed to be spoken to.

Can a PADI dive boat get fined for not having 02 onboard?

 

[chuck86]

I am very happy to report that I only just returned from my family doctor and she is telling me that my balance is at approx. 98% and that the nystigma in my eyes is still there but it is diminished a lot form what the doctor in Cozumel put in the medical reports. Which I have the complete file and hand delivered to my doctor. Dr. Hart tells me she can see no reason why there will not be a 100% recovery from this incident and that it will take from 6 weeks to 2 months to be completely healed.

As for the posts above this post about BA I am willing to believe that they acted in good faith and accordingly to what they actually thought happened. I am glad that this is being discussed here at length because there are a lot of people out there that are learning a lot from all of you and for that I thank you all.

Will I ever dive with them again?

Of course I will "After I see the full oxygen bottle on board and I am assured that they now how to use it"

 

[mart1]

**RULE #1** From this trip forward, I will start hydrating my body two to three weeks before a dive trip. Before I dive I will check myself. If my urine is not clear or very close to clear then I am not hydrated and should not dive until I am.

Chuck Peterson
cpeterson31@cox.net

Hi Chuck, glad to hear you came out OK. These inner ear bends can shake you up pretty bad.
Two remarks about hydration:
1) two weeks is not neccesary, one day should be enough. But don't forget the air conditioning in the airplane, this takes a lot of fluid out of your body!
2) in order to be really effective, don't drink water but mix it with hydration salts, or use Gatorade. Probably your doctor told you this as well, but maybe you forgot.

mart

 

[ggunn]

I will be going to Cozumel soon (see timer), and I will most likely be diving with Blue Angel. I've been out with them before, and I believe that if there was indeed an error on their part, it was an anomaly.

I will be asking about O2 aboard their boat, however.

 

[HammerNoMore]

(1) We tend to no longer describe DCS occurrences as either "deserved" or "un-deserved".

That's why I said "While there is really no such thing" and put the undeserved in quotes . There is no reason to drag back up the undeserved argument. I agree there is no such thing, but it's much easier to say "an undeserved hit" than to say "a hit taken on a dive that was well within the limits".

Offering oxygen to someone in distress is not truly "practising medicine". If you offer O2 to someone with food poisoning, you will not have harmed them, and may have made them feel better. If you offer O2 to someone who may have DCS, on their way to further treatment, you will have helped them immensely. Either way, everyone wins. It is a case of: "Oxygen! Don't leave home (or the dock) without it!" :07: )

In the US "medical oxygen" is considered a presciption drug. In some states "emergency oxygen" is also considered a prescription drug. No, it's not right, but it's the way it is. This is why O2 provider courses stress corny statements like "this is oxygen, it can help you, can I give it to you". There was a great thread on this about a year ago where someone said (paraphrasing) "O2 is cheap, if you're on my boat and even think you need it let me know and I'll point you to the bottle."

That being said, I think Blue Angle should have "offered" oxygen, but I wasn't there and I didn't see the condition Chuck was in. Based on your statment above (not on the case in question) do you really think dive boats should offer O2 to everyone who chums the water in route? I'm ok with that but expect the price of diving in Coz to go up .

James

 

[chuck86]

2 or 3 weeks of hydration probably is a bit of over kill, but you can bet your last dime I will NOT be dehydrated on my next dive.

It has even made a difference at home already, I almost quit drinking coffee and I drink at least 4 bottles of water everyday. I do feel better when I am not dehydrated and I will stay that way.

I will also carry on two bottles of water so that I can drink while I am on the plane.

Might sound over cautious but this ain't gonna happen to me again.

 

[HammerNoMore]

Chuck,

You might want to check out this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/t89666-hydrating-in-advance---how-far.html

It's basicly a spinoff from your story. Our Dr. Deco, who knows his stuff, recommends several days.

 

[pilot fish]

That's why I said "While there is really no such thing" and put the undeserved in quotes . There is no reason to drag back up the undeserved argument. I agree there is no such thing, but it's much easier to say "an undeserved hit" than to say "a hit taken on a dive that was well within the limits".



In the US "medical oxygen" is considered a presciption drug. In some states "emergency oxygen" is also considered a prescription drug. No, it's not right, but it's the way it is. This is why O2 provider courses stress corny statements like "this is oxygen, it can help you, can I give it to you". There was a great thread on this about a year ago where someone said (paraphrasing) "O2 is cheap, if you're on my boat and even think you need it let me know and I'll point you to the bottle."

That being said, I think Blue Angle should have "offered" oxygen, but I wasn't there and I didn't see the condition Chuck was in. Based on your statment above (not on the case in question) do you really think dive boats should offer O2 to everyone who chums the water in route? I'm ok with that but expect the price of diving in Coz to go up .

James

That surprises me when they have 02 on airplanes, dispensed by attendant, on the sidelines at football games, etc, dispensed by coaches and staff. If that is the case why do they carry 02 if they cannot dispense it? Since the difference between giving it and not giving it might be critical seems to err on the side of caution wins the day. If Chuck had been given 02 on the boat it might have lessened the severity of his hit?

 

[chuck86]

Thanks that was very informative and just backs up my Idea of staying hydrated all the time.

Besides that I really believe I feel better.

 

[scubadobadoo]

BTW, the dive op in question did not call a doctor, Christi did.

I'm not trying to start anything here but comments like this is how rumors get started. The original post states, "When Jeanie got there she advised me that she had called a family practice physician..."

Again, I agree with most of your statements and am in no way trying to be a jerk. I just want to make sure that the facts are clear. Now if you meant that BA didn't call the Doctor that treated Chuck then that is another story.