Would you dive with someone who had DCS in the past?

[everlasting]

A while ago, I met a new buddy who told me, outright, that she'd never dive with someone who had ever gotten DCS. She said that it shows some sort of susceptibility to DCS, and would feel like it was dangerous to dive with that person.

In my opinion, this is absolutely not true. While there are factors that may make a person more susceptible to DCS, I feel that the majority (if not all) cases are caused primarily by diver error. But even disregarding that, I'm much more concerned about the diver's reaction to getting DCS. Did they try to analyze the causes? What steps have they taken to ensure that their diving is safe and they'll avoid the problems they're had in the past? The answers to questions such as those are going to tell me a lot more about the person than simply knowing that they had the bends at some point.

So. Would you dive with someone who had DCS in the past? Do you think a diver who had the bends needs inform new buddies that it happened?

 

[eponym]

Okay, this response is probably outside the recreational envelope, but if you know and respect the guy why not?

I have buddied up with divers who've been hit, but not seriously, and have known others hit seriously enough to end their careers. One of the former is an instructor who taught my basic deco course. I had dived with him and we had become friends years before, and like a few other deep/cold/wreck divers I know he had observed some Type I symptoms in himself.

I would dive with this guy any day--he's hands-down one of the best divers I know.

Should he tell potential buddies? Depends on the dive plan, the environment, the buddy relationship. If I'd taken an undeserved hit on a relaxed warm-water dive (within tables/computer but symptomatic) more than once I'd have to assume I'm easily bent, and would share that, yes.

-Bryan

 

[ucfdiver]

Anyone who claims to never had DCS is mistaken, the body has certain effects to bubbles that no one really understands, and the majority of minor cases are unreported (these can be as simple as fatigue). There's so many factors (cold, dehydration, fatigue, etc) that can all cause an undeserved hit.

GUE has an interesting DVD on the subject found here that I just recently watched-
The Mysterious Malady: Toward an Understanding of Decompression Injuries | Global Underwater Explorers

While it's over my head in much of the dvd, it frequently mentions that DCS prevention is an art, and not a science.

The DVD stated that we know:
-Individuals tolerance against DCS is not the same day to day
-Multiple factors can lead to DCS outside of dive profile alone
-The current tables are not made to work for everyone, as this would be ridiculously conservative.
-DCS data is hard to research, because type 1 and type 2 hits are often recorded incorrectly, and many minor hits are unrecorded.

During the dvd, some of the leading researchers repeat over and over again "We don't know" when JJ asks them various questions relating to DCS. They explain on how you can have 1000 divers, and 2-3 get bent. Then those same 2-3 do the same dive profile weeks later and nothing happens. Then you get one diver who gets bent every time. Then you have divers who dive those profiles for years, and randomly get hit. Gathering data is near impossible. It's made even harder by the fact that not everyone is honest when they describe their dive, if an insurance company asks if someone did a safety stop, do you always expect a truthful answer? Also what about people who do a 2min safety stop at 15ft, then dart to the surface?

Now, with that being said, if the person took a DCS hit, was it because they didn't pay attention to the tables, or because of an undeserved hit?

 

[Ted S]

As with most things in life, absolutes don't generally make sense. People get DCS for doing dumb things as well as just being unlucky and just as important, people change. What really matters is the circumstances at the attitude -- if someone was new to diving and didn't get good training about not over extending, went out on a hot day and got hit that's completely different than running out to the water every day, doing laps around in your dive gear and then pushing your luck with bottom time. In a completely different scenario you could get sick while being fairly safe but going beyond a typical recreational dive which is an entirely different scenario than just rocketing to 150’ because you didn’t bother to check your weighting and never do.

So again it all really comes back to attitude. I'll dive with someone who wants to be safe relative to my view of safety -- if they got bent either because of bad circumstances or something foolish that they no longer would do (and probably learned from) that's not a problem. If someone is reckless I don't care what they have or hadn't had condition wise, that's not who I would dive with. By the same token, I'm not pushing the limits so if you got it that way, even trying to be safe, and want me to come along for the ride, well I'm not the buddy for you and would recommend someone better suited and trained to accompany you on a tech dive. Remember, being a buddy works both ways... I want my buddy to tell me things I need to know but I have to be willing to inform them of my own limits and how their history may impact me just as much.

As far as telling people, I think Bryan hit the nail on the head. If you got bent doing something basic without any serious strain you're a risk and you need to inform your buddy of risks (plus anyone else around). If you got bent doing something technical, by the book and it just didn't work and you're diving to 25' off a boat, it would be nice if you mentioned it to me but if I found out later I wouldn't be upset.

 

[TSandM]

I'd want to know how it happened. If somebody got bent because they willfully disregarded limits, or lost control of an ascent, I'd want to know that, because THOSE things reflect on my safety, diving with that person.

If someone got bent because they calculated a deco schedule that proved not to be enough for their particular physiology, that's just part of the technical diving game. I have a friend who has taken two hits, one with a chamber ride, and what he's figured out is that he needs to adjust the deco to pad it a little in the shallows . . . for HIM.

I had some weird marks on the back of my shoulder after a day that included a square profile dive to the NDLs, and a second, very brief dive (aborted because buddy had equipment problems). They didn't itch, but they were definitely something strange. I came to the conclusion that they were bruises, from standing on a rolling boat with my doubles on, but they went away awfully fast. They didn't itch or hurt. Should I tell any prospective buddy that it's possible that I had a case of skin bends a year and a half ago? I did make a personal decision to pad the deco shallow on any square profile dives close to the NDLs, but I'm not sure it was warranted. It's just such an easy thing to do that I've done it.

I had a technical instructor start a seminar by saying, "It's not whether you get bent, it's when."

 

[SPG3K]

If I thought their diving would put my life in danger, regardless of DCS history, I wouldn't dive with them.

Your OP begs the question: Would you dive with someone who has blatant disregard for DCS precautions?

Other than blatant disregard or utter ignorance, DCS hits are just part of diving and I don't think they reflect as traits of a bad diver, necessarily.

 

[Theunis]

So. Would you dive with someone who had DCS in the past? Do you think a diver who had the bends needs inform new buddies that it happened?

Yes on your first question.
No on your second question.

 

[Sas]

Yes, and no to your two questions. I think DCS can be a symptom of poor diving practices for sure, but people screw up and go on to learn from their mistakes. I think talking to people on the surface gives you a better idea of their attitude towards diving than whether they have had DCS in the past. So I would not mind diving with someone who had had DCS in the past, as long as they had a good attitude when I went over dive plan, etc, and this applies to divers who have never had DCS too! As far as disclosure, I think only contagious conditions should be disclosed to others, anything else is up to the individual and I would not hold non-disclosure against someone.

 

[sunkmail]

Would you not run with a friend that had broken their leg before?
Should you tell your new running friend that you had broken your leg (while running)?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Interesting question. I usually only dive with my husband as my dive buddy, but a few times I've been the third wheel, paired with with another buddy set when my husband is tired and decides not to do a dive. I've never thought to even ask something like that, I pay more attention to how the other people act together as a buddy team and on the boat. I'm rather serious about the responsibility of being a buddy so I want whoever I'm buddied with to be just as serious. I like a dive plan, to know what hand signals are used, and that we will look out for each other.

Thanks for all the great responses to this post, very interesting reading.