Question for instructors out there...

[jeanne001]

OK... You are in a quarry in VT with 5 AOW students. From what I am told the quarry has 4 huge caverns in it (N S E & W). I'm guessing they were doing the "deep" dive since they were at 90 feet. Not sure. One student starts to panic and heads for the surface. The instructor goes after her and she is fighting him every step of the way. He trys to slow her down but she drags the both of them to the surface. Forget safety stops! They weren't happening. At the surface he finally manages to get her calmed down and on shore. She seems to be fine. He has other instructors with him to get the rest of the students topside and to shore safely. Later he is showing signs of DCS. His right arm is paralyzed, his left arm has the tingles one leg and one foot is tingling and he has pain in his abdomen.

He goes to the hospital and is transported to a hospital in the Bronx (4 hrs away) for a decompression chamber. I know this instructor and I have yet to talk to him about this but, I'm pretty sure he would say something along the lines of that he will do just about anything to keep his students safe. He would probably say that if he'd let her go she would probably have drowned. Maybe many other reasons that I can't possibly think of.

Is this how most instructors feel? Would you jeopardize yourself to save your students at the risk of getting the bends yourself? I am sure this happens much more than i suspect, but never really thought about it before.

I have not yet heard how he is doing. I suspect he will be in the city for a few days, i think.

 

[300bar]

Long answer,short.

Yes,I would do anything(within reason)to keep my students safe.
Can I always do what is needed,well no not always.
Once had a student shoot by after a deepdive ascent.
He lost a 16kg weightbelt.:
He and I were glad we did this ascent on a line.He stopt his ascent at 5m.15ft. by just holding the line.(upside down)
Could I have done anything?guess not,he just lost his belt.

On an other event,a student stired up so much dirt,I could not see beyond my mask.
I just kept on feeling for him untill I found him,he was just waiting for me,to get him out of the dirt.

On an other event,again on a deep dive,I had a student narc out,COMPLETELY.
I've brought him backup to 18m.60ft.and he was fine.
During that same ascent,I had 1 student calling low on air,so she went up on my alt air.
They both came up safe.They Happy, Me Happy.

Yes we do go that extra step to bring you up.

 

[pir8]

Reality, You never really know until it happens.
I think I would try to do anything I could to prevent an accident.

 

[Jim Ernst]

I wish this Instructor a safe and full recovery!

I do fully agree and I would do about anything I could to save a student, But in this and many other cases we must remember one Thing, It is better to have One victim and not two.

I Personally might have let that student make it too the surface and then rescue her there and not have risked being a second victim, Now that being said.... I also was not there and can not make that a definite decision as I don't know all of the facts.

Kudos to that Instructor!!

 

[scubajcf]

While there are always limitations. I would do anything possible to keep my students safe. The answer is yes!

Best wishes to your friend. She is probably alive because of him.

jcf

 

[24940]

I can't say what I'd do if I found myself in that situation, so I make every possible effort to avoid it.

If you rewind about an hour, there were likely strong indications that his person should not have been doing this dive.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yes ... DCS is treatable, death isn't. There may be other things going on that would be preventable if I were present. I'd do everything in my power to slow us both down, and do what I could to prevent worse things (like reg rejection or embolism) from happening ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Tom Smedley]

There is no choice here. When you take students into a learning situation you are legally and morally responsible to protect them from harm. I think the morally overrides the legally in my view.

 

[Coalcracker]

Well, You will get the usual instructors and experts who will say what they would. They will say things like: "I would do anything for my students" etc. etc. Reality is no one knows until the moment.

This particular instructor reacted and did so at great risk. Hope he recovers without any long term problem.

 

[nereas]

Yes ... DCS is treatable, death isn't. There may be other things going on that would be preventable if I were present. I'd do everything in my power to slow us both down, and do what I could to prevent worse things (like reg rejection or embolism) from happening ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob is exactly right.

The worst case scenario would have been an embolism by the student, which normally results in death. Therefore the instructor's first priority would be to prevent the death of the student, even at the expense of DCS or injury to the instructor him/her-self.

Ultimately, the instructor also bears the full responsibility of having brought this student to the deep open water apparently unprepared. I would not bring a marginal student to the open water, but sometimes they slip by your careful observations.

This is also why some "fast" basic certifications by "some" agencies are unsafe at any depth.

More pool and/or shallower water diving was probably needed for this student. Of course, hindsight is always 20-20.

No one can speak for all instructors. Speaking for myself, I always make sure I bring a student, or even an ordinary dive buddy, back alive, no matter what.