Rob Murphy Loses Legs to Boater

[Chad Carney]

Rob Murphy was making rounds to dive shows like The Blue Wild in Dania Beach, Feb 7 & 8 (See pics below), and TV and radio shows to promote dive safety... only one month after his accident!

FWC officers are looking to commit an entire week to dive flag enforcement the week before the
4th of July.

Concerned divers and boaters are signing petitions to make this an annual function.

Another man, 66 year old Joseph "Dean" Diver, (his real name) was hit by a boat and injured in Tavernier, FL on Feb 14th. (See photo below.) If he avoids infections he'll likely recover his use of that leg.

I don't know about you, but I can't sit back and be negative and apathetic about this issue.

My next step is passing out Dive Flag Awareness brochures and stickers from my booth at the Tampa Bay Boat Show in St Petersburg in mid March... and the word will be getting out to a lot of boaters.

Dive safe!

Chad

 

[Rick Murchison]

...The only way to make this happen is to embarrass state lawmakers into action, because for most of the boating population, such a requirement will be a p.i.t.a. that they want to avoid. I see divers, dive gear cos., dive shop owners and insurance companies being the biggest groups to support such a thing, but otherwise it will be an uphill battle for you Florida folk.

Surely the Great State of Florida doesn't want to be upstaged by their poor country cousins in Alabama, where a boating safety course is required for a boating operator's license....
Here's the dive-flag part of the required boating safety course in Alabama.
I must say, though, that even with that as part of the required course, I don't see any more actual dive flag awareness on the waterways in Alabama than I do in Florida. But at least in Alabama boaters have no excuse for their deficient awareness.
---
As for the PITA part, what Alabama did when they first implemented the law was to grandfather in most of the boaters who had political clout by making the course required only for those born after April 28, 1954 (those over 40 when the law went into effect in '94 were exempt). Florida could use the same tactic.
Rick

 

[Buddha64]

I've been following this very closely and I think the "Dive Flag Awareness" days are a good first step. I'm also not sure new laws are necessary. I think what we really need to do is to DEMAND that the public safety officers ENFORCE the laws that are alreadey on the books. We as divers also need to make sure we follow the dive flag lwas as well. We don't need to give boaters the ability to point right back at us going "We follow thw law it's them thats the problem". We also need to keep up the pressure on law enforcement to make sure they just don't sweep this one under the rug.

Either way there are no quick fixes to this problem.

George.

 

[Hetland]

I've been following this very closely and I think the "Dive Flag Awareness" days are a good first step. I'm also not sure new laws are necessary. I think what we really need to do is to DEMAND that the public safety officers ENFORCE the laws that are alreadey on the books. We as divers also need to make sure we follow the dive flag lwas as well. We don't need to give boaters the ability to point right back at us going "We follow thw law it's them thats the problem". We also need to keep up the pressure on law enforcement to make sure they just don't sweep this one under the rug.

Either way there are no quick fixes to this problem.

George.

It's unreasonable to expect law enforcement to fix this problem. There simply are not enough cops in the water to make people do the right thing, especially when those people don't know what the right thing is in the first place.

By licensing boaters you:

1. Educate boaters on the proper procedures for approaching a dive flag
2. Give a real incentive for obeying laws already on the book (you lose the license after getting so many "points" on your license)

Right now, you're only proposing doing one of those things, and the proposed "education" will only reach those who pay attention, and/or attend your "education" events. By making all boaters sit for a course, they will have to review the information in a setting where they are (hopefully) sober, and open to learning the rules of the water.

It's funny that backwards Alabamer is more progressive on boating education than Florida.

 

[scubastaci]

well, GA is not much better. We were diving with the flag up on our boat and well within the 100feet and had wakeboarders and fishermen going right over our heads. When we surfaced, Our local sheriff's boat was well within view and did nothing. They were busy trying to catch people speeding through a no wake zone. We have yet to have someone drop a line on us, but we were only 20 feet from a boat that had 9 rods in the water. They were not there when we went down, but were there when we came up.
The problem is that most non-divers don't really care. Half the time they are drinking and don't pay attention to other boats, much less a dive flag. I agree that you should be required to have a boat operators license. They require a separate one for motorcycles, so why not? Money. They would have to pay someone to work that department.
Laws get changed when the voices of many rise up together. We as divers are responsible for taking action to make a change. Dive Flag Awareness is just the first step on the ladder.

 

[deepstops]

Surely the Great State of Florida doesn't want to be upstaged by their poor country cousins in Alabama, where a boating safety course is required for a boating operator's license....
Rick

Rick,
As I read section 4 on the dive flags, are divers really restricted to 50' from the flag in AL?? (that's pretty tight)

 

[K_girl]

Dan:

Dial the testosterone down a little buddy. It's okay to be upset, but not everyone on this board dives with a knife in their teeth.

Legal action against the boater should be controlled by the victim. If the victim wants to take civil action against the doc, then let him and his attorneys make the moves. If he asks for our help, I'm sure there are plenty of divers here willing to do what's needed. If you put the doc out of business, how is he going to pay all those medical bills after he loses a civil suit?

I agree with Hetland here. I wonder if Rob can file suit on the doctor's malpractice insurance as he certainly had the skills to render assistance as an ER doctor, but he left the scene instead. He may have had some professional obligation here that could potentially render him liable under his malpractice insurance in a civil suit. For instance, let's say he left the hospital without making arrangements for others to care for his patients and something happened to one of them - we know he would be liable then. Let's say a doctor drove by the scene of a car accident without stopping, I'm not sure under those circumstances if he/she could be held liable. I seem to remember a friend in med school a long time ago tell me that he is under an obligation to stop at the scene of an accident and render assistance. However, if a doctor stopped at the scene, saw the serious injury, knew that he/she could have rendered assistance but chose to jump in his/her car and drive away - that could be another matter. He may be potentially sued his violation of the hypocratic oath of "do no harm." After causing the initial harm, he left the scene knowingly causing even further harm because he could have rendered extremely valuable assistance - his malpractice insurance may be liable under that argument. If that would hopefully be the case, no amount of the doctor's hiding assets will deprive Rob of the life-long reparations he deserves. Since this doctor left the scene and called his lawyer to meet him at the dock instead of rendering assistance tells me that his actions lean heavily in protecting himself and his assets.

I'm not a lawyer, but any lawyers in the house that could provide some input?

 

[myScubaLogin]

Unfortunately, I just heard about this accident through scubaboard newsletter. It is a terrible and tragic event. One would think that all of us on and in the water want to make everyone's experiences safe, but then I read that FL does not require safety course for boating license...

I am very glad Rob is still with us, and the fact that only after a month after the incident, he is going around trying to promote dive flag awareness and safety shows what an incredible person he is. Best wishes to you and your family Rob, and thank you for everything you are doing to help the dive community.

Education always helped, so definitely, the first step is to increase dive flag awareness (it would be nice if boaters could just in general avoid well known dive spots at least).
I don't see a problem with requiring safety course for boating license. if anyone has a problem with that, they should talk to Rob (and i'm sure there are, unfortunately, many others with similar story), or look at the pictures of the diver shown above. Yes, it may be a PITA but so are many other things we do to keep things safe, nothing is free in this world. Rick suggested one potential solution above and there are probably others which would work.

It really ticks me off how there are so many ignorant people in our country who consider many things to be their right as opposed to a priviledge, as it is in most other developed countries, and probably many "undeveloped" ones (hint: DL). So anyone coming to FL outside of the US (or another US state, eg. Alabama), most likely have had to take a safety course to obtain a boating license, so why not boaters from FL? And many people will fight hard against tougher safety laws, which is just beyond my understanding.

anyways, sorry if I seem very frustrated, but I just read about the incident, am still in shock and do not believe it couldn't have been avoided.

Thank you all who work hard and often (or even just ocasionally) to promote dive safety with divers and, or boaters. Education never hurts, and hopefully we'll be able to influence other changes to help overall safety as well.

 

[Buddha64]

It's unreasonable to expect law enforcement to fix this problem. There simply are not enough cops in the water to make people do the right thing, especially when those people don't know what the right thing is in the first place.

By licensing boaters you:

1. Educate boaters on the proper procedures for approaching a dive flag
2. Give a real incentive for obeying laws already on the book (you lose the license after getting so many "points" on your license)

Right now, you're only proposing doing one of those things, and the proposed "education" will only reach those who pay attention, and/or attend your "education" events. By making all boaters sit for a course, they will have to review the information in a setting where they are (hopefully) sober, and open to learning the rules of the water.

It's funny that backwards Alabamer is more progressive on boating education than Florida.

I have no problem with requiring boaters to be licensing, I was just trying to work within the confines of current law. BTW I don't think it's all that unreasonable to expect law enforcement to do their jobs. I am however a realist and know about shortage of staff and priortizing your efforts. You might be able to convince a state to implement licensing by pointing out the increased revenue they may get from that. The problem is if you try to "sell" that idea based on diver safety you'll get the situtation that many here have expressed fear of. The board hearings will be packed with boaters against and only a few divers for. I'm out of state and other than the call to the Governers office to express my outrage and the fact I may take my tourist dollars elswhere if the outcome is unfair there's not much else I can do. I haven't seen any organisations that really stand up for divers rights out on this issue. The folks that arranged the dive flag awareness days exempted, good on you guys by the way. Is there an organisation that stands up for divers rights? There seems to one for every other group out there.

Now off topic, where in the 'bama coast are you from? My wife's family lives near Scottsboro and she wants to move down there. I told her only if we get near the coast that way I can be near water, she can get to her family faster and we're not close enough that they'll always be over.

George

 

[K_girl]

So here are some tidbits I've found regarding Florida laws to stop and render aid:

After the CrashFlorida law requires that you must immediately stop your vehicle at the scene of the crash, or as close thereto as possible, without obstructing traffic more than is necessary, and, if a damaged vehicle is obstructing traffic, the driver of the vehicle must make every reasonable effort to move the vehicle or have it moved so as not to obstruct the regular flow of traffic. You must remain at the scene of the crash until you provide the proper information to others involved and law enforcement.

Rendering Aid to OthersFlorida law requires you to render to any person injured in the crash reasonable assistance, including the carrying, or the making of arrangements for the carrying, of such person to a physician, surgeon, or hospital for medical or surgical treatment if it is apparent that treatment is necessary, or if such carrying is requested by the injured person.

Source: Orlando, FL Auto and Truck Accident Lawyers and Lakeland, FL Motor Vehicle Accident Attorneys | Lilly, O'Toole & Brown, LLP

Here were some responses on a doctor's blog:

"It may not be illegal, but you may be opening yourself to liability if you are present at an accident and fail to act, the idea being that you have expertise that the general public does not."

Response:

Possibly true, but you don't have to announce your occupation at an accident scene nor do you have to stop at all. How would anyone know if you had any expertise at all if you keep your mouth shut?

Source: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2005/09/did-medical-liability-prevent-doctors.html

***

The following legal opinion says that in Florida, police officers are required, by duty to stop and render aid. It would be strange if the same does not apply to doctors in Florida:

You have asked for my opinion on the following questions:

1. Does a law enforcement officer have a legal duty to provide aid to ill, injured, and distressed persons, who are not in police custody, during an emergency?
..
1. and 2. A law enforcement officer, including a police officer, has a legal duty to provide aid to ill, injured, and distressed persons who are not in police custody during an emergency whether the law enforcement officer is on-duty or acting in a law enforcement capacity off-duty. Thus, the Good Samaritan Act does not apply to such officers..

Source: Advisory Legal Opinion - Officer's duty to provide aid to ill or injured

After much research, I am finding out that a lot of states have laws that make it a criminal act to leave the scene of an accident that you are involved in and not render aid. Here is an interesting one, a plastic surgeon in Houston hit two women, fled the scene. Doctor pled no contest and got two years, but got an additional year for not stopping to render aid. His defense attorney made the argument: "The girls either, because they panicked or because they didn't understand where the traffic was coming from, they stepped out in the roadway and the accident was unavoidable.." One woman suffered from a broken ankle and the other had her skull fractured. The article states that because of his actions, he will most likely lose his license to practice medicine in the U.S. Circumstances are very similar here, and the defense tried to blame it on the women, but these two women suffered no where near the amount of damage that was done to Rob.

Source: Doctor Sentenced To 2 Years For Intoxication Assault - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston