Yes, after he told me that story I told him he must be Blessed By God to
have survived that experience, and should start a religious cult.

I think that he still has no idea how close he came to dying.

   Jim
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/

> From: Capt JT <captjt@mi*.co*>
> Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 17:04:34 -0400
> To: Jim Cobb <cobber@ma*.ci*.co*>, <billy@bd*.co*.au*>,
> <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
> Subject: Re: death rigs
> 
> Cobb, remember at the last meeting the young man who has a similar set up,
> told how he went down to untie after his first dive and the switch was
> still on the deco gas 50% and breath it at 110ft and started shaking and
> nearly didn't make it up. I think we worked on him for a while and he is
> going to give up that rig.
> 
> 
> At 01:02 PM 8/2/00 -0400, Jim Cobb wrote:
>> I don't see anything wrong with this setup, Billy. Obviously this death was
>> due to diver error. I guess he forgot whether the yellow tape was air or
>> nitrox. An innocent mistake anybody could have made. He should have had a
>> hose wrap around the nitrox, um, or the air, that would have made everything
>> better.
>> 
>> Billy, I truly hope you are not implying with this post that weird, bizarre,
>> non-standard equipment and configurations could possibly have been at fault.
>> I mean the mere suggestion of this makes you a DIR goose-stepping nazi
>> fanatic.
>> 
>> It's a much better for divers to follow their own path, do their own thing.
>> How could you possibly suggest that following a standard, proven gear
>> configuration could do anything but stifle the creative urges of the
>> aspiring techdiver.
>> 
>> Take a look at this fellow, independent doubles with different mixes going
>> to an unlabeled gas block equipped with a great big easily-moved lever. This
>> fellow is, er, was obviously an genius of the highest order.
>> 
>> I see that his wonderful, inspiring rig is now available for purchase.
>> Perhaps we can all pitch in and purchase it for Black, the only person *I*
>> know of smart enough to appreciate it's beauty of design and construction.
>> 
>> Jim
>> 
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/
>> 
>>> From: <billy@bd*.co*.au*>
>>> Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 20:37:41 +1000
>>> To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
>>> Subject: Re: ABC on Diving the San Diego - STROKE ALERT
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> on 7/31/00 2:24 AM, speez3 (Techdiver) at speez3@ea*.ne* wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> As for Tony Maffatone, he takes his
>>>>> ideas, puts them on paper and makes them work. Everything he builds
>> is from
>>>>> his own design. This whole thread really shows ZERO intelligence from
>> this
>>>>> list. A proper apology is definitely in order.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Seems Maffatone is determined to take an outdated
>>> and terminally stupid idea and grind it around and
>>> around some-more.
>>> 
>>> The old Kevorkian rig rears its ugly head again.
>>> 
>>> rgds billyw
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------5. New South Wales State Coroner. Coroner's Court, 1995. File number
>>> 94/574. -------
>>> 
>>> Clinical record
>>> 
>>> A 47-year-old experienced underwater cave diver, with no significant
>> medical
>>> history, was diving with two tanks -- one containing compressed air,
>> the other
>>> a 50% mixture of oxygen and nitrogen (nitrox). Towards the end of the 47-m,
>>> 19-min dive, he was seen floating head down, unresponsive, with his
>> mouthpiece
>>> out of his mouth and "his fins [flippers] moving as if he was
>> shivering" (as
>>> reported by another diver to the Coroner). The body was carried up to 15 m
>>> depth and then allowed to ascend freely as the other divers decompressed.
>>> 
>>> Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was attempted, but abandoned after 43
>> minutes as
>>> there was no response.
>>> 
>>> Autopsy findings
>>> 
>>> Erect postmortem x-rays and autopsy of the body performed 24 hours
>> after death
>>> revealed large amounts of gas in the venous system of the trunk and
>> limbs and
>>> in both sides of the heart (Figure 1). The heart weighed 380 g and was
>> normal,
>>> apart from foamy blood and gas in all chambers. Analysis of gas from
>> the right
>>> ventricle showed O2 (20.6% by volume), and N2 (75.9%). There was
>> bruising of
>>> the tongue and petechiae on the lungs and heart. The brain (1740 g) showed
>>> mild cerebral oedema and a microscopic perivascular haemorrhage in the
>> floor
>>> of the fourth ventricle.
>>> 
>>> Figure 1: Postmortem erect chest x-ray, showing gas in both sides of
>> the chest
>>> and in the neck veins (a combination of postmortem decompression,
>> perimortem
>>> barotrauma and, possibly, decomposition).
>>> 
>>> Examination of diving equipment
>>> 
>>> Examination of the subject's diving equipment (Figure 2) revealed that
>> he had
>>> been breathing the 50% oxygen/nitrogen mixture for most of the dive.
>> Each tank
>>> had a separate first stage connected in an unusual fashion by a two-way
>>> switch, which the diver had had made by a local engineering shop. This
>> allowed
>>> the diver to switch from one tank to another rapidly. This switch
>> supplied a
>>> single second-stage mouthpiece. The two tanks were different colours; the
>>> circuit from the black (compressed-air) tank was marked with yellow tape,
>>> while the circuit from the yellow (nitrox) tank was unmarked.
>>> 
>>> Figure 2: Equipment used by the diver, showing the 50% oxygen/nitrogen gas
>>> tank (yellow, right), compressed-air tank (black, left), yellow tape
>> marking
>>> the compressed-air circuit, and two-way valve which controlled the
>> source of
>>> the air supply (inset shows close-up of valve).
>>> 
>>> The regulator had a small tear and a bite mark in the mouthpiece. The diver
>>> wore a facemask and separate mouthpiece rather than a full facemask, which
>>> covers eyes, nose and mouth.
>>> 
>>> Discussion
>>> 
>>> The cause of death, as determined by the Coroner, was drowning after oxygen
>>> toxicity.(5) The "shivering" movements and the biting of the tongue and
>>> mouthpiece suggested fitting. Using a 50% oxygen/nitrogen mixture at 47 m
>>> depth, the diver had been exposed to a partial pressure of oxygen of
>> 291 kPa
>>> (2.9 atm), possibly for as long as 19 min. During diving, this gas mixture
>>> should be used only at depths less than 14-18 m (depending on the
>> duration of
>>> exposure).
>>> 
>>> Cerebral gas embolism and decompression illness were unlikely causes of
>> death,
>>> as the subject was unresponsive before ascent. The gas observed at autopsy
>>> probably resulted from a combination of postmortem decompression
>> (release of
>>> tissue nitrogen), perimortem barotrauma and, possibly, a degree of
>>> decomposition.(6)
>>> 
>>> This death resulted from several compounding problems:
>>> 
>>> 1.The diver may have turned the switch to the unmarked nitrox circuit,
>>> thinking he was using the circuit to the compressed air in the black
>> tank (the
>>> yellow label marked the circuit from the black [compressed-air] tank,
>> not the
>>> circuit from the yellow [nitrox] tank). Alternatively, as the two-way valve
>>> needed very little pressure to turn, it could have been accidentally
>> switched
>>> from a safe to an unsafe gas mix.
>>> 
>>> 2.The diver was using a separate facemask and mouthpiece. During the
>> seizure,
>>> the mouthpiece fell out. A full facemask, covering both the mouth and nose,
>>> should be worn by divers using oxygen-rich mixtures or carrying out deep
>>> diving on compressed air, to reduce the chance of drowning should an oxygen
>>> convulsion occur.
>>> 
>>> This technical diving fatality and those reported in the United States in
>>> 1992(4) were in experienced divers, who should have understood the dangers.
>>> 
>>> source: "an article published on the Internet by The Medical Journal of
>>> Australia <http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/MJA/>"
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
>> Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
> 
> "You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in the
> water"
> Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East Coast & more
> Web Site  http://www.capt-jt.com/
> Email     captjt@mi*.co*
> 
> 
> 


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