Question About USS Thorfinn Incident

[Peter_C]

The DM called DAN for instructions then they gave him oxygen for 3 days while the symptoms dissipated and he returned to diving and finished his trip.

The next call to DAN should have been to ask if it was okay to continue diving, and I highly doubt they would have said sure go ahead! I wouldn't have gotten back in the water other than for swimming/snorkeling that is for sure.

 

[Wookie]

I was going to stay out of it, but I just can't. Part of this is the PITA fee. When you come on the boat, we're happy to give you a band aid when you need it, a couple of aspirin when you have a headache is fine, A cyalume is necessary and right, batteries?, yup, no problem. What, need some O2 for your bends, here ya are. Now. All of those things need to be replaced. Some crewmember must go to the store and get aspirin, band-aids, batteries, cyalumes, etc. Is it dififcult? No, not in Key West, but I'll bet it's a different story in Chuuk. Oxygen is likely an extra pain in the butt. You don't just drop off your jumbo D's at Airgas and pick them up on Tuesday. Because you need them back on a 12 hour turnaround. On the weekend. Otherwise, you go back out without. And that's not safe. So, someone in the crew, probably Lance, has to go find some O2 and a booster, and a fill whip with a double pin connector on a Saturday when it's the only day he "has off". And he's already a little miffed because your friend got bent, sucked down 3 days of O2, and returned to diving all without seeing a physician or even a hyparbaric tech.

That's why your friend paid an extra $600. He can get it back from his insurance company. Lance has his PITA fees covered. Everyone is happy.

 

[akdeepdiver]

There was a chamber on Chuuk a couple years ago when I was there. Was it not working? Im wondering why they just did not give him a chamber ride.

 

[mike_s]

There was a chamber on Chuuk a couple years ago when I was there. Was it not working? Im wondering why they just did not give him a chamber ride.

I remember seeing a Chamber in a pic from a friend who went to Chuuk. It was sitting out front of the Dive Shop there...


Don't have his pic exactly, but a quick google search found one of it....

State of Chuuk Warnings or Dangers - Travel Safety Tips - VirtualTourist

http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1556126-Warnings_or_Dangers-State_of_Chuuk.jpg

 

[TheUWPhotographer.com]

There is a chamber on Chuuk and fortunately that's not it.

 

[Wookie]

If there is a chamber on Chuuk, why did Gary Mace have to be evacuated from Chuuk to Guam? The story, which was told on The Cyber Diver and The Tech Diver was a horror story regarding the level of medical services there. Gary, want to chime in?

 

[TheUWPhotographer.com]

The Cyber Diver article you're referencing says there was nobody there that could operate the chamber when he arrived there.

 

[Thalassamania]

BYOO?

(Bring Your Own Operator)

 

[fdog]

Neuro Sx ...? And he didn't end up in this?

O2 for 3 days, in lieu of recompression therapy, is odd to say the least. Heck, I would be kicking and screaming to send me to the chamber for just a Type I hit.


All the best, James

This is the chamber on Truk.

Hadn't heard about the uneven availability of the operators and tenders, though. That might explain the 3 days of surface O2.



All the best, James

 

[akdeepdiver]

James, thanks didnt recognize it since fortunitly I never had to visit it. Deffinitly looks better than the antique outside the Blue Lagoon Dive shop