South African Diver Bent On Remote South East Asian Island

[DandyDon]

We had a fellow come up with an embolism. His head/face looked like a Giant balloon. We called our emergency numbers and brought him in. One of those numbers is DAN. He was not a DAN member, but they spent the next 8 hours straight on the phone with us. They got the Mubarak Hospital and were in direct contact with the doctors here, who were just lost, having never seen anything like it. I am talking beachball head here all air under the skin.
DAN was tremendous, at their own expense. They sorted him out through the med staff here and set him up with a hospital in London and followed him for the next 6 months. All they asked in return was that he share his medical records with them.

Wow! :11: What an experience. Yeah, the few times I have called them, they were quite willing to consult to any extent needed without even asking if I/he was a member.

Sorry this might look silly: does that mean even if you're not insured with dan they'll provide you the service and pay for hospitalization?

Nope. They will consult you and medical providers but not pay the expenses unless you're insured with them. But even if you get your dive insurance elsewhere, I think they're a great enough organization that one should still be a $29/yr member, plus Travel Assist medical evacuation is covered in that.

Having been a DAN member for twelve years I can say I have never heard where they have failed to do good.
But I prefer to be a member and have their feeling obliged to help me, if ever I should need them.

So far, so good!


Seadeuce

And to pay the expenses if you have a need outside of your country's Socialize Medicine, right?

 

[singingdiver]

Sorry this might look silly: does that mean even if you're not insured with dan they'll provide you the service and pay for hospitalization?

If your not covered by Dan, they don't normally cover anything. That was a heck of a gift!

If insured, Dan would have covered (from the manual) "Any land, water or air conveyance required to transport the member or covered family member during an emergencey evacuation or repatriation." They will also arrange the transportation.

They cover 100% of the medical up to a maximum which depends on the coverage you choose. My wife and I have the top coverage which max's out at $250,000.00 for each of us. I'm not sure what exactly we pay a year for our family plan, but I know its LESS THAN $200.00. That's the cost for a good day of diving for most people.

 

[DandyDon]

If your not covered by Dan, they don't normally cover anything. That was a heck of a gift!

I don't think they paid any of her expenses - just helped her arrange things and stayed in contact for consultations all the way. She said: "I eventually paid a fortune for a ride to the mainland on a boat that dropped off fuel."

Actually, I'd be peeved if they paid for her treatment. We're responsible enough to pay our annual premiums (mine is on auto pay) so we deserved covered expenses. She self insured her risks, and I'm glad they assisted in arrangements and consultations as they did with ZenDiver's mentioned case, but paying for the expenses is their responsibility....

 

[bubba105]

I've only had one experience with DAN. A newly certified friend of mine called me to ask info about ear pain after returning from his 1st dive trip. I told him I'd get right back to him, called DAN & they told me they'd need to speak to him directly to get a good assessment of his injuries. Turns out his injury was minor but DAN walked him through the ordeal, even after he had seen a doctor. He became a member on the 1st call.

I use DAN as a preventative measure. I have REALLY bad luck. As long as I'm insured, nothing will happen. If I cancelled DAN I'd get bent in the shower. I have catastrophic insurance, through my job, that covers $10 million after my hospialization is exhausted. It's about $300 a year. I shudder to think of what would happen if I cancelled. :11:

 

[DandyDon]

As long as I'm insured, nothing will happen. If I cancelled DAN I'd get bent in the shower. I have catastrophic insurance, through my job, that covers $10 million after my hospialization is exhausted. It's about $300 a year. I shudder to think of what would happen if I cancelled. :11:

:lol:​

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Sorry this might look silly: does that mean even if you're not insured with dan they'll provide you the service and pay for hospitalization?

They did not pay for his hospitalization, but they arranged all the logistics and set up hi doctors and everything. Plus, on the initial accident, they were on the phone from the US to Kuwait, on their dime, for over 10 hours total. They did not disconnect until his major problems were solved. They then followed up with the care in England and had all the doctors prepped and advised beforehand. They had no obligation to him and no connection, but they still did all that. They don't turn people away. They won't pay for the hospitalization, but their input and logistical and medical help is still invaluable.

It took him about 5 months to fully recover and they still called and checked in for 6 months. All they asked in return, was that he give them copies of his medical papers. I love DAN.

 

[DandyDon]

I really have to sympathize what the lady endured after realizing she was possibly bent even while disagreeing with her decision to not have DAN insurances. Excerpting from the article, imagine going thru all this after the onset of "left hand and foot were tingling and I felt compression in my lung area"....

Julika, a qualified dive master, first raised the alarm by SMSing a friend, freelance cameraman Brian Uranovsky in Cape Town, who sprang into action with the help of local doctors.

To get cellphone reception she had several times to wade through waist-deep water, avoiding deadly stone fish on the ocean floor and climb up a three-storey bamboo tower built on stilts.

(3 hour boat ride) on a boat that dropped off fuel."

Kennaway braved rough seas on the boat before taking a two-hour flight to an airport where she caught a connecting three-hour flight to Singapore.

"At 38 000 feet I lost all sensation in my fingers.

"My whole arm went numb and started aching and pins and needles starting spreading to my right side."

Once she landed at the airport she had to get to the chamber at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital and a doctor specialising in hyperbaric medicine.

"Brian was giving me directions to the hospital via SMS while I was in the taxi from the airport but once I arrived, there was a team waiting.".

Wow! For $99 US/year I can do the wade to tower and climb but soon be talking to DAN myself sayiung Come get me the hell off this rock - and bring oxygen!! I've seen two different boat/dive mates leave for DAN evacuation; thank goodness they both had DAN as both barely survived much worse hit.

 

[Ted S]

I use DAN as a preventative measure. I have REALLY bad luck. As long as I'm insured, nothing will happen. If I cancelled DAN I'd get bent in the shower. I have catastrophic insurance, through my job, that covers $10 million after my hospialization is exhausted. It's about $300 a year. I shudder to think of what would happen if I cancelled. :11:

But that's always the case with insurance, right? Lower your auto coverage, get hit. Drop flood protection in a dry place, get a rain storm. Most people will never use their DAN coverage but that's a good thing, not a bad one... and that's why our premiums are so low when you consider the payout required to get someone from a remote island to a chamber on Christmas eve.

For those without coverage, DAN offers their most basic plan for $25 a year which provides up to $45,000 in coverage for decompression illnesses and $35 a year for a plan covering all dive injury expenses with a $125,000 lifetime max. Even if you only dive a few times a year, or less, it's well worth getting before your next trip.

Compare DAN Membership Plans

I should also note, while most of us have private medical insurance, many plans don't cover dive accidents and those that do may only cover medical expenses (not transportation to the medical facility). Be sure to check your insurance before assuming you're well covered.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

For the price DAN insurance is relatively cheap, & compared to paying for your own mediccal treatment it is very cheap. Treatments can be around $10,000.
They also allow you to cover family on one package but with different levels of cover. I do tec diving & covered upto my dive cert level of 100m with multiple gas's, the wife does rec so does not need it.

The only time I have needed DAN (South East Asia's) help, they toook down all the details, depth, stops, gases, what treatment I had done myself including O2 etc, they also told me that wrapping my arm in ice would help to relieve the pain & it seemed to work. They provide a great service.

I suggest that everybody have some sort of medical cover if not DAN then something simialr jjst in case.

I'm not sure if I didn't understand you correctly but, your statement "the wife does rec so does not need it." kind of doesn't make sense to me. The insurance and membership is cheap and I would think you would realize that your wife could also benefit from the insurance and membership. Just my opinion but no matter what type of diving you do I don't think you are immune from DCS.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm not sure if I didn't understand you correctly but, your statement "the wife does rec so does not need it." kind of doesn't make sense to me. The insurance and membership is cheap and I would think you would realize that your wife could also benefit from the insurance and membership. Just my opinion but no matter what type of diving you do I don't think you are immune from DCS.

Yeah, I wondered too, but I think he mean he and his wife have different levels of coverage - but the two lower levels do forfeit a lot of benefits for the $35-45 they save off of the top plan as illustrated in Ted's link above. So often I think that everyone who has DAN dive insurance has all those benies, but not necessarily....!