Becoming the second victim

[Tigerman]

Yeah, well, having served in the army and also been part of a few actual dive incidents, I can tell you for sure that the ammount of information you can process in a very short time will surprise you as long as you have the tools you need to consider the different scenarios.
Having made a few decision beforehand also helps

Oh yeah, and although it looks AWSOME in movies, firefighters and police officers dont just "try to save without thinking about their own safety"...
They may have a different perception of what is acceptable risk and reward, but they know that if they get killed in the process theire not rescuing anyone..

 

[raftingtigger]

Making yourself a second victim not only endangers your life, but it now makes it harder for others to help the first victim - they now have 2 victims to deal with. IMHO the phrase "don't make a second victim" is a reminder to act with thought and due care and not just blindly react.

As the potential rescuer you have to size up the situation and intervene as best you can. You need to acknowledge there is a point where your risk of death is rising exponentially, while at the same time your chance of successful intervention is dropping dramatically. This is the point you should change your response. It is the same principle as medical triage (deciding who gets aid first when your resources are inadequate to treat all the injured).

To illustrate this: On a wall dive using Nitrox 36 your buddy fails to arrest their depth at your planned level (say 90'). They are slightly below you and are sinking rapidly with the bottom >300' below. How deep do you chase after them before giving up? FYI the MOD is 95 and Max (1.6 ata) 114.

 

[Altamira]

I was not talking about heroics as presented in movies, but about real people taking extraordinary and selfless actions in attempting to save or rescue others. During my 20 year USAF career, I served with three Medal of Honor recipients and several AF Cross recipients, and had numerous conversations with them about the situations that earned them the medals. The common thread connecting these men is that they saw people in danger and took action, without giving a lot of thought of potential danger to themselves. It would be easy to chalk up their actions as them thinking they were bulletproof, as most of us did in our younger days. However, these men put themselves in great danger when they could easily have said "too hard to do" and no one would have questioned a decision not to act. That is what separates real heroes from the rest of humanity. BTW, if you looked at my profile, you would understand that I am well aware of how much information one can process in a very short period of time. I do agree that thinking through, and practicing for emergency situations may significantly improve the odds for a successful outcome, but it takes a special person to try to save when that action could kill you. That is the only point I was trying to make.

 

[Kharon]

First, I don't think many would be able to simply watch without attempting to help - training or not. One more reason that diving with a buddy is more dangerous than diving solo.

 

[D_B]

In the .. just under you and sinking fast .. diver scenario, I would make a decision on acting, and swim down and catch up to them and arrest the decent, then make a slow ascent to a half depth stop, then stops every 10 feet starting at 30ft
How deep would I go depends greatly on who they are but I think I would do 125 because I'm not going to spend any time there

Heading stuff off before it gets to be an emergency is good part of the training you get in a Rescue Class , but sometimes that is not possible ... you react when you decide to help, and tailor the help you can give, to the situation as it unfolds .. like trying to reach someone going down or up, and calling it quits after ascertaining that the risk has just become too great

 

[raftingtigger]

Heading stuff off before it gets to be an emergency is good part of the training you get in a Rescue Class , but sometimes that is not possible ... you react when you decide to help, and tailor the help you can give, to the situation as it unfolds .. like trying to reach someone going down or up, and calling it quits after ascertaining that the risk has just become too great

Well said.

 

[flots am]

Nothing can happen if you are trained well and you don't panic... Were did you learn this stuff? Does it work when driving a car, flying a plane, skiing, riding a bicycle

OK. Name something dangerous or fatal that isn't a medical problem, happens frequently enough that an Open Water diver would be likely to encounter it, and can't be prevented by training and practice.

flots

 

[AfterDark]

OK, Name something dangerous or fatal that isn't a medical problem, happens frequently enough that an Open Water diver would be likely to encounter it, and can't be prevented by training and practice.

flots

OK I'll try! A diver is towing a flag/float as required by law. The line is NOT attached to the diver or gear. A boat comes by too close and snags the float/line and is going in a direction that entangles the line around the divers neck and the boat continues on at 30 mph. What does the well trained prepared diver do before his neck is snapped and his body dragged around for the afternoon?

 

[Wookie]

First, I don't think many would be able to simply watch without attempting to help - training or not. One more reason that diving with a buddy is more dangerous than diving solo.

It happened exactly this way to a NOAA diver in 2006? maybe. His buddy (a Law Enforcement officer) watched his buddy sink and drown. The buddy was out of air, the LE was out of air in his back gas, and barely made it to the hang bottle himself. The deceased never dropped his heavy tool belt or weights. NOAA diving was shut down for months.

For the OP. In most cases, a diver who sinks upon attaining the surface is more likely to be a recovery rather than a rescue. Do not get hurt for a recovery, there are more highly trained folks available to perform the task. If it truly is a rescue (diver entanglement with low on air, etc.) then the bends is the least of your worries, and not that big a deal at that.

 

[nimoh]

OK. Name something dangerous or fatal that isn't a medical problem, happens frequently enough that an Open Water diver would be likely to encounter it, and can't be prevented by training and practice.

flots

You are making a fairly significant change to your claim. You said "Nothing can happen if you are trained well and you don't panic..." but now you are limiting it to things that happen frequently. I do agree with the general intent of your post that better training both prevents problems and enables divers to handle problems. However, there is no point in training where divers become perfectly able to handle all situations.

In addition to training, practicing learned skills is equally important since learned skills can diminish over time.