Widow sues medical doctor and training company

[Shotmaster]

This lawsuit should be a wake up call to the industry.

 

[Tippytoes12]

This man was a dentist and should have known that diving with these issues was a huge risk. It's extremely hard for dive shop staff , when presented with proper documentation to refuse customers. At 51 having an enlarged heart may well have been linked to significant other issues , which as a dentist he should have known about.

 

[guruboy]

If the article is accurate, I wouldn't be surprised if both the Doctor and the Instructor (and other Instructor who saw him use an inhaler) are found to be at fault.

WTF is this? Since when did an OOA situation require an emergency uncontrolled ascent?

"On March 22, Laharty took Burns for a deep dive. Within minutes of reaching 60 feet, Burns indicated he was out of air. Laharty performed an emergency uncontrolled ascent to the surface, but failed to safely maintain control of Burns. Laharty had to swim back down to grab Burns."

 

[Freewillow]

Darwin selection at its best ! All of them are at fault. Now 9 million $ for an idiot - enlarge heart, asthma,, pneumonia and for a Dr in dentistry - That can only happen in the US

 

[boulderjohn]

So the Doctor failed Burns because he signed off on his patients suitability for diving, something he knew nothing about. He should have referred his patient to a Physician who knew diving, or simply said, "I can't help you."

The doctor did not have to be an expert on diving. The article said that the doctor failed to read the PADI (RSTC) statement on asthma. Here is what it says on page 4 of the medical form the doctor signed:

The 1996 Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) consensus on diving and asthma indicates that for the risk of pulmonary barotrauma and decompression illness to be acceptably low, the asthmatic diver should be asymptomatic and have normal spirometry before and after an exercise test. Inhalation challenge tests (e.g.: using histamine, hypertonic saline or methacholine) are not sufficiently standardized to be interpreted in the context of scuba diving.
​

Did the doctor see page 4, or did the diver give him only pages 1 and 2? Is it possible the dive shop only gave out pages 1-2?

 

[Sevenrider860]

The instructor and shop staff who saw him using a rescue inhaler and continued to dive with him failed too.

He had an two uneventful dives on the 20th. He aborted a dive and used a bronchodilator inhaler on the 21st. Do you know if it was a long acting or short acting inhaler...The article uses the term "rescue", but there are different types. The next day he chose to dive again. I have dived with people that sometimes use an inhaler before or after a dive and that does not make them medically unfit to dive. Not all asthma is rapid-onset. To say the shop failed him because he was seen using a bronchodilator the day before seems a stretch. I certainly would have asked if he was ok and feeling fit for the dive given that he aborted a dive the previous day...likely even pressed him concerning the conditions that caused him to abort. I would not have disqualified him simply because he used a bronchodilator the day before.

 

[Serge Tao]

If the article is accurate, I wouldn't be surprised if both the Doctor and the Instructor (and other Instructor who saw him use an inhaler) are found to be at fault.

WTF is this? Since when did an OOA situation require an emergency uncontrolled ascent?

"On March 22, Laharty took Burns for a deep dive. Within minutes of reaching 60 feet, Burns indicated he was out of air. Laharty performed an emergency uncontrolled ascent to the surface, but failed to safely maintain control of Burns. Laharty had to swim back down to grab Burns."

The article is flawed:

...
Neumann did not conduct an exercise test.
On March 20, Neumann began his open water certification in Washington with Mike Laharty, of Salem Scuba, as his instructor. They completed two uneventful dives that day.
The next day, Burns suffered an asthma attack during his second dive and had to abort. Another Salem Scuba instructor saw Burns using as inhaler on the beach.
...

According to the above, Dr. Neumann, who signed off the dentist Burns, also started with his open water.
Assuming that this is the first flaw, using the term emergency uncontrolled ascent probably sounds cool for a newspaper article. The only thing missing is oxygen tank.

This article just leaves too many questions open for speculation.

 

[drrich2]

As to the contention that the shop staff should've warned the dentist about the risk of diving with asthma, I'm curious...how much does the average instructor or dive master know about asthma? Asthma is one of those things everyone's heard of, but how many people who don't have it or work in health care know all that much about it? It's an intermittent 'breathing problem' and some people with it use inhalers to get through 'attacks' and breathe okay, and some people have it as kids but 'grow out of it.'

If someone shows up with a form showing his Doctor knew about it and signed off for him to dive, is the average instructor qualified to pull him aside and give a lecture on the risks of diving with asthma?

Richard.

 

[KeithG]

seems like the dr and instructor were negligent and the dentist was stupid. anyone with asthma should have known to be very careful and perform their own research ahead of time. And as a responsible adult, excercise their own best judgement.

when i was getting certified i suggested to one of my friends that he and his wife try it as well. he said they were both very interested, but his wife had some sort of asthma and so he had some concerns. several days later he came back and said "no way". they thought it was highly unlikely that she could get cleared and even if she could, neither of them considered it an acceptable risk. the potential downside was just too great for them.

i had known these people for many years and never realized she had any issues. she was very physically active - skiied, ran, swim... So i was very surprised and this is how i became aware that scuba and asthma may not go together.

The dentist should have done his homework and been fully aware of the issues. Maybe he was? And decided to take the risks? Did he mislead the Dr?

Maybe he was aware but thought that "this does not apply to me"? This reminds me of the Dr Deep situation a few years ago.

 

[uncfnp]

A couple of comments.

I can tell you that individuals that need a pre-exam for employment, sports, etc all too often go to a provider that does not know them or their history. Then we have to rely on the patient to be upfront and honest. Too often info is either down played, omitted or out right lied about.

Next, one does not need to be a diver to complete the forms. I do DOT physicals and I have never drove a rig. However, the provider does need to be aware of the standards when they exist. While I have a lot of issues with the form itself, PADI does provide some standards. If the patient was factual with his history then it sounds like the physician did in fact either not read what he was signing or simply decided it was good enough.

If it is not on the form perhaps Padi should add a line for the provider to sign stating he has been given a copy of the standards and has read then. A least a few of the forms I do have this. I know the State Criminal Justice physical forms do and they are much more complex and restrictive than Padi.

The dive shop missed the mark if they did in fact see him symptomatic, and if he had to abort the dive to use an inhaler I have to assume he was, then let him continue without at least some additional investigation of his control and tolerence to diving.

Very unfortunate reading on all accounts. Remember too this is a news article and we know how unreliable this source of information can be. So no rush to judgement here.