Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
OK, I've been silent too long on this one. There were a couple of things bothering me, and I even went back to the archives to find them. Apparently "Underwater Outfitters" wrote: Underwater Outfitters wrote: > > George, > > Before you going making your claims as to who is a stroke maybe you > should know some facts, as I know you were not diving with us that > day. > > I was operating the vessel in question and I will not, nor have I ever > left a diver in the water and I would not have left the diver (ONE) > that was decompressing except that I was ORDERED by the U.S.C.G. > Auxillary to leave, as I was less than three miles from shore and > another boat was responding to pick up the diver (ONE) who had 22 > minutes of deco.left. Here it gets a little fishy. OK, we have a diver complaining of pain, one in the water with exactly 22 minutes of deco left, and we are 3 miles from shore? (Still wondering though how we know exactly 22 minutes..) > > The diver who was bent was in no shape to get himself back in the > water and he was out of his gear before we knew that he had a problem. > We first tried to administer oxygen with his oxygen regulator but he > could not hold it in his mouth. How the hell was he supposed to go > back in the water when he could not hold a regulator? Now we are trying to give O2 via a scuba regulator, to a bent diver who can't hold a reg in his mouth, even though there is a proper O2 rig on board "pre-assembled" and someone who knows how to use it? I give up, what's wrong with this picture? The time that it > would have taken to get him back in the water would have been longer > than the last diver had to decompress. > > After being TOLD TO LEAVE, we had the diver to shore in under 10 > minutes were there was medical personnel waiting. Is not prompt > medical treatment for anybody who is injured proper prodical?? Now we are back on shore in just 10 minutes where the bent diver is being properly tended. But, yikes, we still have a diver in the water! Now I don't have a lot of experience with DCS cases - everyone I know that's been bent has apparently waited anywhere from a few hours, to even several days to admit they might be bent. That's another story. I do however have some first hand experience with CG helicopter evacuations at sea, (two of them actually, one a very serious case about 50-60 miles offshore) and it's a pretty amazing operation. The "First Mate" posted that there were only 5 people qualified to discuss this event - Capt, 1st mate, bent diver, deco diver, and one other diver. So, I assume that this boat is a 6-pack,, a small (but very fast) boat with limited deck space. Hmmm. might be a mite tricky for evac - and will definitely take the chopper - hmm - maybe 10-15-20 minutes to get airborne from land base, plus maybe 10 - 60 minutes flying time to boat depending on departure point. Then CG has to lower a swimmer on board this tiny bouncing target, and set up the pick-up. There's another 10 minutes. Of course you need a competent captain to maneuver the vessel (yeah, you do need to be "live" <off anchor> to maintain directed course with consideration to wind direction and speed), and maintain position so CG can make the drop, and pickup. Wait a minute! Did we say we are three miles from shore while we wait an hour for the chopper? Oh, by the way, diver in the water has been up for a long time. Well, clearly the chopper may not be the best answer to the problem at hand. Alternatively, alert the CG, and land based emergency medical systems, get the boat ready to fly once deco diver surfaces, and leave the site once you get your last diver back on board. (I hate to think if deco diver ran out of gas or experienced equipment failure, or had his own medical emergency on the hang, and surfaced to find no boat, and no way to complete deco obligation.....) It was said the deco-ing diver was intelligent. So what. This was a deep technical dive - they all should have been intelligent. First rule of accident management is to survey the situation, and make it safe for everyone else. No sense in creating opportunities for more victims. Weigh the alternatives. In a minute (or less) they could have (and apparently did according to the later post of the "First Mate) worked out the O2 delivery and put a proper mask on the bent diver. Of course we assume (there's that word again) they had a functional mask with that DAN O2 kit. But then, this is a dive boat that routinely takes out dive charters, to deep wrecks. Why would ANYONE charter it if it did not carry minimum dive safety equipment - e.g., enough O2 to support a diver for the entire ride back to port, and then some. Even a little "Jumbo D" bottle should have been sufficient for this one. Would a 22 minute delay REALLY have made a whit of difference, if victim was getting 80% or (hopefully) better inspired O2 during that time? We are talking bends here, not drowning, not heart attacks, not anaphylactic shock (here I go again, assuming that victim is breathing and heart pumping - but nobody said they were doing CPR so I figure it's a fair assumption.) Again, in that same later post, the "First Mate" says the victim never lost consciousness. > Obviously, my boat is not the same slow tug that you dive from as I > went back out and picked up my diver, beating the responding boat that > was supposed to pick him up. (Not your fault guys, you did your best > and I thank you). > > The stroke in this story is Darryl Ertel who cut me off coming into > the harbor, unloaded his boat and sat at the dock instead of > responding to the Coast Guard request for the closest vessel (which he > was) to assist and pick up the diver that we were told to leave. > No sir, you stated above that another boat was responding to pick up your diver. And from the looks of it, you beat him back out there. Great response that was. Had you not left your diver out there in the first place, you could have avoided this whole part of the horrifying story. > For your information, the USCG, several charter operators and divers > (even the one left in the water) who WITNESSED the event praised us > for our immediate response and our professionalism in handling the > emergency situation. > > Captain Mike McKay > > All that means is that they have no concept of leaving a single diver out on the hangline in the middle of the shipping lanes. It's not against the law to be stupid, but it sure shortens lifespans. At 11:38 AM 9/8/97 -0400, you wrote: > >Jeff, we are hearing that the dive operator left people in the water > >and ran the bent guy in, rather than sticking him back in the water > >until the rest of the divers were up. > > > > Sounds like you guys have misused the workd "stroke" - the stroke in > > >this situation is clear. Let me use the word in a sentence: " Only a > >STROKE would leave a diver in the water. Rule Number One applies to > dive > >boat operators, as well as divers. > > > > When you guys are discussing a charlie foxtrot, which appears to be > >the dominate topic of conversation up there, try to remember that > being > >bus-driving stupid is not considered an attibute to most people. > > > > You strokes need to think your plans all the way out before you rush > > >out to risk people's lives, and you need to leard to understand this > >stuff before you run aorund like headless chikens . > >-- > >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to > `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > >Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > > >-- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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