Unknown Woody From “Dive Talk” DCS and Medical Journey

[Cthippo]

The reality is that you cannot be certain of chamber access anywhere in the world. In the US you are probably within two hours flight time from a chamber, but there is no reliiable way to know if it is operational, staffed, etc. The only chamber I am reasonably sure of in Washington is Virginia Mason in Seattle. I assume there is one in Portland somewhere, as well as in the San Francisco, LA, and San Diego areas.

You might be able to find out if a given chamber is operating today, but no one is going to commit to it being in service tomorrow or next month when you need it.

What we do is dangerous. It will kill you. Accept the reality about the availability of care and make your own decisions based on your risk profile.

 

[KevinNM]

And try to convince your insurance that the $90,000 air ambulance was a medical necessity when you arranged it yourself.

Try to get them to pay for it when the doctors ordered it.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/ambulance-flight-hospital-emergency-19376329.php

 

[Manatee Diver]

DT released their video where they went over transcripts at DAN. I didn't watch as I can't stand listening to them for 40 minutes. But in case others have the patience.


Direct YT Link

 

[Wallowa]

DT released their video where they went over transcripts at DAN. I didn't watch as I can't stand listening to them for 40 minutes. But in case others have the patience.


Direct YT Link

And I thought I was the only one who could not listen to Woody's adolescent pratter .... thanks for posting video, will see how much I can get through...

 

[Boarderguy]

I'll wait for the cliff notes. My time at work is better spent watching/listening to The Good Doctor.

 

[InWay2Deep]

Couple takeaways I got.

1. Do not trust the provider during the admissions process to tell you the truth. Apparently they will lie to you and say DAN won't cover this so you must pay, or DAN said to take this transportation. Verify everything with DAN do not take anyone at their word (kickbacks, etc).
2. Related to above, DAN has multiple ways to 'pay', so if they say DAN can't pay for this, get DAN on the phone and let them argue with them regarding payment. Apparently DAN has a 'trust me bro' agreement with most of these places and they want the $$ upfront.
3. DAN is adding some information in their APP regarding locations, similar to how the state dept gives you warnings about other countries, they will warn you if DAN can even help in certain locations. They went on as well regarding building individual EAP's and how you can email them to DAN and they will review, but it would be best if there were just standard EAPs for popular locations. There's an EAP template DAN provides everyone should use prior to going on their trip.
4. DAN will be involved in all Transportation related discussions going forward. Apparently this is a 3rd party service and DAN would do a hand off and the level of service DAN expected from their 3rd party wasn't being met so they will participate more in those discussions.
5. Sort of an underlying theme I got out of it was DAN expects US to have a certain level of knowledge on how to deal with an Emergency, personally I feel this is unrealistic. A call should be made and they take it all from there. In some cases the 'victim' aka the one WITH the insurance maybe incapacitated and the 'buddy' making the call might not even be a diver, they will have ZERO level of knowledge on how to navigate the process or even know what an EAP is. Yes, we should educate them but the likely hood of that is pretty slim.

I got bored about 25 min in so I may have missed some things.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Sort of an underlying theme I got out of it was DAN expects US to have a certain level of knowledge on how to deal with an Emergency, personally I feel this is unrealistic. A call should be made and they take it all from there.

The problem is that they don't know the ins and outs of every single location you may end up at. They know the hyperbaric hospitals that they work with, but a lot of cases when it comes to transportation it may take some time to arrange. That is why news media, volunteer organizations, and others rely on local fixers to find that. And IMO that is where local dive guides come in. The million dollar question I've asked more than once, where was Brian? Was he notified? If he was what support is he providing?

 

[Six Feet Under]

The problem is that they don't know the ins and outs of every single location you may end up at. They know the hyperbaric hospitals that they work with, but a lot of cases when it comes to transportation it may take some time to arrange. That is why news media, volunteer organizations, and others rely on local fixers to find that. And IMO that is where local dive guides come in. The million dollar question I've asked more than once, where was Brian? Was he notified? If he was what support is he providing?

If the original DT video is to be taken at face value... they were all at the grocery store, then at the house grilling steaks and subsequently eating dinner as Woody slowly died in the van, chair, and the bedroom, respectively?

 

[Manatee Diver]

If the original DT video is to be taken at face value... they were all at the grocery store, then at the house grilling steaks and subsequently eating dinner as Woody slowly died in the van, chair, and the bedroom, respectively?

I don't remember seeing Brian in those videos, but I wasn't scrutinizing it in depth.

 

[InWay2Deep]

The problem is that they don't know the ins and outs of every single location you may end up at. They know the hyperbaric hospitals that they work with, but a lot of cases when it comes to transportation it may take some time to arrange. That is why news media, volunteer organizations, and others rely on local fixers to find that. And IMO that is where local dive guides come in. The million dollar question I've asked more than once, where was Brian? Was he notified? If he was what support is he providing?

No, I get that. What I mean is they expect you to know how their process works. I think most would assume, call DAN phone #, they say goto location X for treatment, call me in the morning. So you show up at location X and expect to be taken care of from there. It seems thats where this process broken down. The facility told them they don't accept DAN here (it's 4am, you are about to die, what are you going to do? Call DAN back, wait on hold, argue, or whip out your AMEX?) They almost need a 'case officer' assigned from the initial phone call that can be reached immediately until treatment starts to help navigate the intake/transportation process. It sounded like navigating the system was the crux of their issue. Once treatment started I have heard no complaints, it was getting it started that caused all the hubbub.

Oh one other thing I remembered from the video, I guess in Video 1 they complained about some form that asked all kinds of irrelevant questions (not the fit to transport one) but something like where does your wife work, where was your first house (maybe that's exaggerated) but regardless, that form will no longer be required by DAN.