West Palm Beach Fatality 59 yo male diver

[OkieGirl]

Come on Don. Give her a break. With one post she clearly would not be an over opinionated poster expected to know TOS.
I'm sure she is not a scubaboard junkie as she only has that one post. More likely she did a search of her loved one and found this site.

You would be correct in the fact that I am not a scubaboard junkie as you put it. You are also correct in the fact that I was online searching for articles about Eddie because I was not there with him. I would very much like to know what took him from us just as everybody else does. I know that I have a lot of unanswered questions like, for example, why was his hose disconnected? Was it disconnected before or after he entered the water? Why was he so far east when he should have been north? If Im not mistaken, I dont think he was partnered with his son so then where the h&!? was his buddy? How was he still alive after 3 hours of searching, an hour in the water and still with 2400 psi in his tank? Also, from what I understand, there was evidence that he was trying to remove the weights from his belt. He had been diving several times before so its not like this was anything new to him. Most of the things that I know now, I learned from reading this forum so Im thankful it is here. Otherwise we would really be in the dark about a lot of things. It just goes to show you that you really dont know whats going to happen from one day to the next. Thats why we have to put our trust and our lives in God's hands and just live each day as it comes. God bless every one of you on here and please be safe.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I'm very sorry for your loss.. What evidence is available with respect to him ditching some lead? Do we know how much lead he had? Was it on a weightbelt, in the ditchable pockets of a BC, or attached to his BC in non-dtchable location(s) or a combination of those?

 

[OkieGirl]

OkieGirl- I agree. I searched this because I know his other son who lives in my town. I was looking for information about the incident- what I found was a lot of conjecture. While the topics may be worth debating, a new thread unrelated to the accident woudl be more appropriate.

Very true.

 

[Angry Turtle]

Very true.

OkieGirl,

This is the appropriate subforum for that type of thread

Passings

all the best to you and yours.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

If OkieGirl, ramblinwreckdiver or others who were close to the event understand the purpose of this thread is to respectfully examine all the potential factors that may have contributed to this event and take whatever side tracks we may feel appropriate I see no reason for them to absent themselves from it. Only they can decide if reading or participating here is likely to be a source of further pain or help with healing! We need always to be respectful of course but not allow ourselves to be crippled or stifle our discussion by our concerns

We are all looking for answers just perhaps different reasons for wanting the answers. Some to learn so we can be safer as divers others to try to get some understanding. Some to find reassurances as to why this isn't likely to happen to us. Perhaps some to help understand the inherent risks of diving.

It would help this discussion if people who know more details are comfortable sharing the information. It would be helpful to know for instance how experienced this diver was. What is the evidence that he tried to remove/drop weights, what kind of weight system did he have and did he have an AirII (was his back up regulator attached to his inflater) which would give more importance to the inflater hose being attached or not. Had he dived in the area before? Did he know the sop was that the diver was expected to stay with the group and the group leader would not be doing head counts? Some areas the dive leader does regular head counts through the dive, requires people to signal their gas levels. Someone used to that system and not the Florida system might get separated from the group more readily. When I dive with anyone I am not used to diving with I consider it my job to stay close to my buddy rather than expect the reverse.

 

[Hetland]

I check our EMS protocol for victims of drowning. Basically, it states that a person is not deceased, until they're warm and deceased i.e. any kind of hypothermia can cause the human body to go into a state of low metabolism aka hibernation. Once the body is warmed up, and meets the criteria of deceased, only then can CPR cease (this is per our protocol). However, I understand your questioning. I would say the likely hood surviving submersion in 84 degree water for 3.5 hours is pretty slim.

Chances are zero. In water that warm, 10 minutes would have been too long to have made a difference.

If you were asking a generalized question about CPR, the criteria for not initiating CPR requires signs of obvious death e.g. decapitation, rigor-mortis, levidity, transected thorax, burned beyond recognition, massive penetrating injury to the head or chest.

I hope this answers your question.

That's one reason I got out of EMS. Though strangely, I still found myself doing lots of CPR on people who met a common-sense definition of death, but still happened to have their heads attached. Three and a half hours in warm water that deep, and with that much gas left, is an obvious sign of passing in my book.

------------------

What I don't know, is if gas stays dissolved in tissue after death. If it does, then it's possible that they had a false "pulse" when they brought him up. Inert gases coming out of solution could have been interpreted as a pulse when there wasn't one actually present. Maybe one of our docs can chime in???

 

[Garth]

When you think of gas and tissues think oxygen and think brain tissue. Brain tissue has no way of storing energy and therefore must have a steady supply of oxygen through blood flow. It might be possible to regain a pulse but there is a point at which you aren't saving much if you do. The problem being the multiple variables that may sustain brain tissue may be difficult to predict even if you know the temperature.


Sent from my Shearwater Predator...

 

[Reck Diver]

Has there been any updates to this case? Have any police/ME reports been made public, has the dive op given there side? Any statements from the others in the water that day? Seems like it just disappeard.

 

[Reck Diver]

Has anyone seen a follow up report on this incident? Other than the initial reporting of the incident, I never saw any reports from the other divers or the op.