DM's drowned by students

[diverdoug1]

On a night dive on a cattle boat, I had a panicked diver grab me and yank off my mask in an OOA situation. I was not DM, just another diver in the pack. As I was blindly trying to give him an air source, the diver dropped his weight belt, which must have been quite overweighted, and we started to imitate a Polaris missile. My computer later showed we had rapidly gone form 80' to 50' in a few seconds. I forcefully disengaged from the diver, who continued his uncontrolled ascent from about 50' to the surface. I was without a mask, but luckily had a large digital depth display on my wrist computer, so I was able to make a controlled ascent (also my buddy was there to offer help shortly after I cut the panicking diver loose). No injuries from the incident except I had a few facial abrasions, and the panicked diver had a finger dislocation. Lucky for no DCS or drowning.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I've had it happen twice to me. Kicker is it wasn't either as a DM and wasn't my buddy or group. Was also in a rock quarry... Fun stuff let me tell you. Many years of lifeguarding and the training that went with that was much more helpful than what we were taught in scuba. If you train your students well, that type of stuff should present itself in the pool long before you make it to open water

You died twice? You must be a cat......or you had to fight off panicked students twice? I suppose we'll assume the latter even though it is less exciting a story.

 

[Kingpatzer]

You died twice? You must be a cat......or you had to fight off panicked students twice? I suppose we'll assume the latter even though it is less exciting a story.

I'm pretty sure that from a medical viewpoint drowning need not result in death. I'm not a physician and am more than willing to be corrected by one. However, my handy-dandy medical dictionary says:

Drowning: asphyxiation caused by submersion in a liquid

Asphyxia: severe hypoxia leading to hypoxemia and hypercapnia, loss of consciousness, and, if not corrected, death. Some of the more common causes of asphyxia are drowning, electrical shock, aspiration of vomitus, lodging of a foreign body in the respiratory tract, inhalation of toxic gas or smoke, and poisoning. Oxygen and artificial ventilation are promptly administered to prevent damage to the brain. The underlying cause is then treated. See also artificial ventilation.

 

[diverdoug1]

I'm pretty sure that from a medical viewpoint drowning need not result in death. I'm not a physician and am more than willing to be corrected by one. However, my handy-dandy medical dictionary says:

Drowning: asphyxiation caused by submersion in a liquid

Asphyxia: severe hypoxia leading to hypoxemia and hypercapnia, loss of consciousness, and, if not corrected, death. Some of the more common causes of asphyxia are drowning, electrical shock, aspiration of vomitus, lodging of a foreign body in the respiratory tract, inhalation of toxic gas or smoke, and poisoning. Oxygen and artificial ventilation are promptly administered to prevent damage to the brain. The underlying cause is then treated. See also artificial ventilation.

I am a physician, and you are correct. Not all drownings result in death.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I am a physician, and you are correct. Not all drownings result in death.

Darned good thing I am not a physician then.....

 

[scubadiver888]

Please point me to the argument that spawned this question.

Why assume there was an argument which spawned the question? It is entirely possible the OP had the thought come to mind and figured they'd ask it here. When I took my Rescue Diver course I wondered how often having a panicked diver attack you might occur. I asked the instructors at the shop but I could have easily asked the question here as well.

 

[Bogtrotter]

Seemed like a perfectly good question to me, that is why I clicked to read the responses. I have heard of divers pushing depth limits causing the DM to get NN and sink flailing to his demise. This was told to me rather dramatically by another diver- how true it is I do not know.

 

[captndale]

I've been tempted to drown a DM or two.

 

[tddfleming]

I thought this was an interesting topic, myself. And....Started me thinking again along these same lines that I have been yammering about to my husband for a while now. My yammering has gone something like this:

What causes a person to panic UW?
Is there something that can be done before it becomes full blown while UW?
What kind of signs to look for?
What can you do as this persons buddy to calm them UW?

I have come up with some thoughts, while I think eye contact and touch can and do help, I have been wondering if everyone had (I know wishful thinking) a full face mask with communication, I think the human voice would work much better UW along with touch and eye contact. Esp. for the people that can panic. Things such as, I don't feel right, scared, OOA, reg breathing hard, what have you would be much easier to communicate and sooth the person.

Just thinking out loud.

 

[TSandM]

I don't think anybody can really answer the question of what causes people to panic underwater. I've been reading near miss stories for five years, and there really is not much commonality. Certainly, being deprived of a source of breathing gas CAN cause panic, but some people have that happen to them and cope with it quite calmly. On the other hand, I remember a story of someone who was not by any means a novice diver, going into full blown panic in a cave because he saw the distance marker and realized he was 900 feet from the entrance.

Once someone is in full-blown panic, there is very little you can do to bring them out of it. Panic is not a rational state. The best you can really hope to do is control the person and prevent them from harming themselves or others, but you have to be very careful not to allow them to harm YOU in the process. This is heavily covered in the Rescue course.

What you CAN do is watch for signs of anxiety. Rapid, shallow breathing is a big one -- and contributes to the development of panic, because inadequate clearance of CO2 causes intense anxiety in and of itself. Erratic behavior is another, but panic can also present as total passivity. (My second experience with a panicked diver was one who went into complete catatonia underwater -- quite a difficult problem to cope with as a DMC!)

I can say from my most dangerous experience underwater that having a concerned buddy at your side and making eye contact helped a lot.