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Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 10:28:46 -0800
From: Paul Braunbehrens <bakalite@ba*.co*>
Subject: Re: Nic Gotto Inquest
To: Capt JT <captjt@mi*.co*>
Cc: Michelle <lisa3@ch*.co*>, techdiver@aquanaut.com
Unfortunately in most cases the persons involved with the inspiration 
diver have much less knowledge of the risks of that particular unit 
then the diver himself.  It would be interesting to send a letter to 
the family of inspiration divers detailing some of the risks of the 
unit.  I wonder how many people would still dive it.

I don't think that Michelle is the one to be blamed, however AP valves 
is criminal for selling this piece of junk, in my opinion.


On Monday, March 17, 2003, at 05:26  PM, Capt JT wrote:

> Michelle, I have only one question for you................Why did you 
> wait until Paul died to get involved in what he was doing. quote "Paul 
> had had no end of problems with the unit".......so you knew something 
> was not right.
>
>
> At 09:04 PM 3/17/03 +0000, Michelle wrote:
>> Hi George,
>> You are so right. Paul thought he was helping with breakthroughs when 
>> he particepated in the early trimix dives on the unit. Everyone on 
>> the inspiration site knew what he was doing, he and a dozen or so 
>> others discussed how they were using mix on the unit. Not a word of 
>> caution from the manufacturers, they must have loved all the free 
>> research they were getting done by Paul and the others. There was 
>> even a chamber dive planned to further asess the performance of the 
>> unit on trimix.
>> Then his accident and all of a sudded he was some kind of rogue and 
>> the statement was that he died because he was using trimix.
>> The unit is sold to be used with trimix and heliox, how did the use 
>> of trimix kill him? We cannot see another diver related reason so 
>> lets blame it on trimix.
>> Paul did not die because he was using trimix but this was the get out 
>> initially used. There are plenty of people using trimix on the unit 
>> now. Some very lucky people.
>> Imagine, you have the full suport of your peers and are in freequent 
>> contact with the manufacturers detailing exactly what you are doing. 
>> Suddenly, you die whilst using one of these units and all that suport 
>> dissapears and you become some maveric doing things they would never 
>> condone.
>> Paul had had no end of problems with the unit so was extremely 
>> cautious and meticulous whilst using it. Replacement scrubber lids 
>> and a replacement unit and numerous discussions with AP.
>>
>> How does it feel to be the widow?
>> When the people your sole mate entrusted his life to abandon him and 
>> use him as a scapegoat? They have a quote published in a magazine 
>> stating their sympathy for you when you can see nothing has been done 
>> to rectify the situation, they do nothing and they act like nothing 
>> has hapened.
>> When the daughter you bore after he died wishes on a star that she 
>> could see her father.
>> When your entire life has been thrown up in the air and slowly falls 
>> back down to the ground shattering in to unrecoverable peices.
>> When collegues at work dash in to a utility room when they see you 
>> walking towards them in a corridoor because they just don't know what 
>> to say to you. You feel like a leper.
>> When people ask you 'hello, how are you?' ( normal, polite) you have 
>> to say 'fine thanks' ( normal, polite) but inside you want to screem 
>> at them for asking such a stupid question. How the hell do they think 
>> you feel - but it is not their fault, they don't know how much that 
>> simple question rips you apart.
>> When you spend endless hours with his patents explaining, trying to 
>> make some sense of it. No parent expects to loose their child.
>> When you are evicted and your home is reposessed because you are not 
>> named on the mortgage. The home you shared for almost a decade.
>> When you sit every night in silence on the sofa desperate to hear his 
>> keys in the door as he comes home to you.
>> You hear about 15 more people loosing their life on the same unit but 
>> still no questions are asked.
>> And all the time the one you love is being used as a scapegoat, 
>> called an idiot by people who never met him, and every time you try 
>> to defend him you are pushed off as an hysterical woman. You look 
>> deeper and deeper and ask questions that no-one will answer.
>> You have to listen to his reputation being ripped to shreds even 
>> though you know what people are saying is wrong.
>>
>> Shall I go on, or do you get the impression?
>> Martin Parker has spoken to me twice. Once at Paul's inquest where he 
>> said 'stuffy in there, isn't it' and once at Nic Gotto's inquest 
>> where he tried to say hello as if we were old friends, and asked was 
>> I well, in the most incredable upbeat maner, I was horrified and 
>> speachless. He seems to have absolutely no concept.
>>
>> As for the other things I can tell you about their performance, how 
>> about attempting to submit a graph ( of how long the loop could 
>> sustain life) at a public inquest, which was massively innacurate but 
>> if it had been believed could have explained the pathologists 
>> findings. The graph's innacuracy was exposed and there was no other 
>> way AP could explain the pathologist's findings. The pathalogical 
>> evidence that Paul had been alive for some time, probably hours, 
>> following a hypoxic event.
>>
>> On Sun, 16 Mar 2003 18:04:43 -0500 George Irvine <trey@my*.ne*> 
>> wrote:
>> Lisa, this post of yours has brought out the usual suspects from the 
>> Buddy
>> Inspiration cheering section, who are about the same caliber of 
>> mentality as
>> you would expect to see at a cock fight. They are citing some web 
>> links that
>> contain examples of stupidity that are beyond the pale, but they see 
>> them as
>> fantastic accomplishments.
>>
>> Maybe you and the rest of the Buddy Inspiration widows can explain to 
>> these
>> morons what it really means to have your husband killed by a piece of 
>> shit
>> like Martin Parker, by the crap training out there, by the "every man 
>> for
>> himself" mentality of the tough guy Brits who seem to feel these 
>> devices
>> make them a real man, and by the very "accomplishments" ( read doing 
>> stupid
>> things and getting away with it) that they are so proud of.
>>
>> The funny thing is that they want to attack me over your post. Your 
>> husband
>> is dead along with countless others due to this piece of crap and the
>> thinking that surrounds it, and we have some lame moron on here 
>> telling me
>> how superior these people are and how screwed up GUE is ( now he has 
>> changed
>> that to "DIR").
>>
>> Maybe you can put some of the things you told me privately on here 
>> and save
>> some lives. While the idiots are well recognized by most of us a 
>> idiots, you
>> never know who you could prevent from suffering like you have.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Lisa [mailto:lisa3@ch*.co*]
>> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 3707 12:58 AM
>> To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
>> Subject: Nic Gotto Inquest
>>
>>
>> Cork City Coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane, last week recorded an open 
>> verdict at
>> the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Nic Gotto, Union Hall,
>> County Cork, who died in July 1998 whilst using the Buddy Inspiration
>> Rebreather. The coroners court heard that Nic and some friends were 
>> due to
>> dive to the Kowloon Bridge wreck, just a few miles south of Glandore 
>> harbour
>> in County Cork, when the tradgy happened. Nic and his buddy entered 
>> the
>> water as normal and proceeded to the bow of the wreck at 9m. All was 
>> well at
>> thisstage, Nic was seen to have looked at his handsets and then 
>> signalled Ok
>> to his buddy. He indicated a direction for the dive to continue and 
>> lead the
>> way with his buddy following behind. The visibility was very poor 
>> that day
>> and Nic's buddy lost sight of him for a few minutes only able to 
>> follow by
>> using Nic's torch beam for direction. Within a few minutes the buddy 
>> came
>> upon Nic lying on his back with his mouthpiece out and having what 
>> appeared
>> to be a convulsion. His buddy immediately realised that Nic was in 
>> trouble
>> and attempt to rescue him. In the rescue attempt Nic's buddy lost his 
>> own
>> mouthpiece and weight belt and started to ascend. He made it to the 
>> 9m mark
>> and managed to alert another pair of divers that Nic was in trouble. 
>> One of
>> the other divers quickly found Nic and assisted him to the surface 
>> where he
>> was taken onboard the boat and CPR was administered for 45 minutes 
>> after
>> which time the Air Sea Rescue helicopter winched him on board and 
>> flew him
>> to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The court heard 
>> that
>> Nic's rebreather was dropped during his rescue and was not recovered 
>> for
>> some days. On inspection the Buddy Inspiration Rebreather was found 
>> to be in
>> good working order and no alterations had been made to the kit. There 
>> was a
>> reading on both guages. Both handsets, when opened, were found to be 
>> cracked
>> and full of seawater. Nic had been seen to be having difficulties
>> calibrating his equipment prior to getting on the boat. On the boat 
>> prior to
>> the dive, Nic dismantled and cleaned and re assembled his equipment,
>> breathed from the unit and prepared to enter the water. It was noted 
>> that no
>> alarm was heard at anytime before, during and after Nic was brought 
>> to the
>> surface. Mr Hogan, the pathologist at Cork University Hospital, said 
>> that
>> Nic had suffered drowning after a metabolic event had occurred 
>> leading to
>> him losing consciousness, he said that it might have Hyperoxia or 
>> Hycapnia.
>> It was recorded that Nic had completed approx. 10 dives on the 
>> equipment. As
>> no one had witnessed Nic changing the scrubber canister the 
>> manufactures, AP
>> Valves, did make a submission that it might have been Hypercapnia 
>> that lead
>> to Nic's demise. Nic's widow Rachel was able to tell the court that 
>> of two
>> 20kg drums of sofnalime at her house over half of one is gone. The 
>> coroner
>> seemed satisfied that this suggested that Nic had replaced the scruba
>> contents. At the end of three days the Jury were directed to return 
>> one of
>> three possible verdicts, accidental death, death by misadventure and 
>> open
>> verdict. They returned the latter.
>>
>> During questioning, a witness who initially reported that Nic told 
>> her the
>> scrubber could last 10 hours, confirmed this 10 hours could well have
>> related to the O2 cylinder duration and not the scrubber.
>>
>>
>>
>> My condolencies to Rachel, Nic's wife, and his three daughters, two 
>> who are
>> teenagers and one little girl who has never seen her father.
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> "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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