video showing diver's death - should be broadcasted?

[AXL72]

OK, I viewed the video, just because I am an intrigued rubbernecker, and as you said, the video was already released.

The only thing I learned new from the video was how easy it was to get entangled in a loose safety line and the importance of not letting the line come loose to get you tangled.

Everything else and a bit more detail was better described and documented in the text link, http://outside.away.com/outside/feat...ve-shaw-1.html.

 

[aussie_shark_bait]

I watched a story on the Australian ABC Channel here called the Australian Story - To Bodly Go it was a thirty odd minute segment with the David's Wife and his dive team and the said video, the transcript is there to read, his wife says some really beautiful things about accepting his death, and it has his children's thoughts also.

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2005/s1367913.htm

Edited becasue of my terrible spelling

 

[Toadie]

If it wasn't meant to be shown... there wouldn't have been a camera. Pretty simple solution me thinks....don't forget that the diver took the camera with him... why? So we can all see what it's like to put a diver in a body bag? I read some of the post about people saying how it's morbid, it's not right... blah blah blah... is it right to take a camera down in the first place? I watched the video, it's not bad and if someone can use it as a tool to assist in learning then I think you should use it.

Diving agencies push how "fun" diving is and as a DM I can't use words like danger, panic, etc... Maybe... just maybe if people realized that diving is fun but it's also about safety people would be more careful in general.

 

[Divmstr223]

This is a very touchy subject and I'm sure permission was given by the family of the victim. I see alot of people here say that it should be seen for whatever reason and some say it shouldn't. As for myself, if it's available for viewing, I certainly would like to see it. But on the flip side of that, suppose your son or daughter were in a horrific car crash that they were killed in and the Channel 4 aired it on the 5 oclock news showing all the bodies involved. Would you think differently now?? Perhaps not, but I certainly would.

It should always be the choice of the family whether and kind of audio or video be shown to the public....

Just my .02

 

[CWMurf]

I have not seen the footage, and have only read a fewpages of the thread, but I agree with several things I have read so far.

The family should have the choice whether or not the footage is made accessible.
The general public has no need to see such footage.
Insurance companies definitely do not need access to such footage.
The footage could be a usefull teaching tool even at the entry level. It is an extreme example but illustrates principles taught in basic scuba theory class.
I also believe that the dangers of recreational diving should be more seriously exposed in basic dive training.

I took my OW the class at the community college. I watched many of the students proceed with flagrant disregard for basic safety principles. Perhaps the instructors were too taskloaded to notice. I don't know,but I think divers of every level should be made fully aware of the dangers and how to avoid them. Perhaps a video such as this would be an effective tool to illustrate how a simple error can have catostrophic results when underH2O. :bablefish

 

[CWMurf]

Ok, I went back and watched the video. When I saw it, the end of his dive was cut off, so I did not learn anything about his loss of consciousness and subsequent death. I believe that for me it would have been valuable footage to see. Not because I want to watch someone's death, but because I can learn from it. I have experienced first hand the death of my first wife. It is not such a "private" or "grotesque" thing. It is a natural passing from one form of existence to another. Nothing more. We are all going to do it and the more we can learn about it now the better prepared we are to deal with it when it comes. That having been said I stick by what I said earlier about it being useful learning about how to save that passing for a later date.

As for reading about it, hearing audio, hearing other's discussions and/or comments... The closer I can get to first hand experience, the better my understanding and the more real it is. Classroom theory is one thing, "getting it" is entirely another.

It should not be publicly broadcast, governmentally regulated, sensationalized, or exploited. I believe it should be used to the benefit of divers, family willing.

 

[whatdecostop?]

Ladies ad gents...I know this is a bit late of a posting, but here goes...

1. The video was shown on a national "free" TV station here in South Africa called eTV, on a program called 3rd Degree. A type of 60 minutes if you wish. The whole programme was tastefuly produced and aired. The programme pulled no punches in regards to the dangers that the whole dive team were/did experience as well as what a decent bloke Dave was, it was also a sort of tribute to him as well.
2. Permission was granted from ALL parties concerned; Dave Shaw's wife, the parents of the 10 year (?) deceased diver, the SA police and Dave's dive buddy (forget his name now).
3. Dave's dive plan was to get the body into the bag as quickly as possible and ascend, what killed him IMHO was "plan your dive, dive your plan"....the moment the body came out of the muck and silt and started to float away, he should of aborted the dive. He didn't; he struggled too long to get the body into the bag and when he finally gave up he didn't realise until too late that something (the body) was hooked/entangled to/onto him on his way back the the ascent line.
4.In my dive circles down here in Cape Town we have discussed this at length and the one thing other than "follow your dive plan" that was, we believe was an error on Dave's part, was the fact that he had done a 270m dive less than 2 months previous to this (this is when he found the body). We feel it was too soon.
I apologise for the long winded opinion....but as a direct answer to the original question...I strongly believe that there is/was no problem with airing the tape from Dave's helmet cam.

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

... and Dave's dive buddy (forget his name now)....

Don Shirley.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[SA-Diver]

I currently dive with one of Dave and Don's friends (he was also on the dive as a deep support diver). I have seen the full video and there is very little to learn from it. There is much more to learn from Don Shirley's comments on the dive and what happened etc.
I do not have a problem viewing the video, but still feel there is little to learn from it.
BTW, it was the first anniversary of the day this past Sunday.

Maybe this thread should rest now - it is not going anywhere!

 

[AXL72]

we believe was an error on Dave's part, was the fact that he had done a 270m dive less than 2 months previous to this (this is when he found the body). We feel it was too soon.

OK....how long is long enough between successive 270 m dives?

Two months seems like a long time.

I am very interested, for future reference.