Accident Report...

[Dectek]

When folks talk about administering First Aid only up to "Training Level" to be covered under Good Samaritan. You also have to include " NOT trained NOT to Perform". If you have taken DAN or any Rescue classes then you are taught to ask for permission and so on. If you HAVE NOT been trained to do so you are covered also.

Lets say you are on your first dive after getting Basic Open Water Certified and you were put in the same situation. At this point you were Trained To Administer O2. You have received no further training as to When , Where, How. Just do it.

Padi Go Dive chap 4 page 162 Near Drowning #4
"Administer emergency Oxygen if possible"

Padi Go Dive Chap 4 page 195 DCS First aid and treatment
" First Aid for decompression illness includes the
diver lie down and breathe oxygen"
SSI Open Water chap 4 page 124 there are statements about making victim as comfortable as possible and giving 100% oxygen or the highest concentration possible.

Folks....we all were taught to give Oxygen and we have it in black and white.

If ever put in any type of situation like this....I hope none of us have to sit and think about covering our own butts before saving anyone else's.

I am glad to hear she is ok and willing to share. That is if she knows she is sharing with us. (Get it in writing) wink wink

 

[chrispete]

I also believe that I remember from my DAN O2 class that if the victim is not in a state of mind under which they can properly grasp the question being asked (i.e. "Do you want O2, it may help you and I am trained in administering it") and make a decision based on logical thinking, then you get implied acceptance to use the O2. If this lady was combative enough to be attacking her rescuers, I doubt that many courts would accept that while she was wildly clawing at people trying to help her she was thinking perfectly rationally.

 

[bwerb]

Nurseshark told me that one of the symptoms of ruptured eardrums can manifest as severe vertigo and dizziness. You can imagine the "stop the room I want to get off" state which can be experienced through the "expirimental" injestion of certain malt beverages under "scientifically controlled" conditions as a reasonable facsimile. Then add complete terror, disorientation and possibly pain to the equation. It suddenly makes sense why the victim would be in such a state.

Great Rescue!

Man, some of the laws out there concerning medical help are totally stupid but, I'd rather deal with the courts than my concience if it ever came down to helping someone out.

 

[ScubaDan]

MASS-Diver once bubbled...

But, if I were a 40 years old with 3 kids and some guy came up from a dive fast, starting throwing up blood all the boat, and, then passed out, I would think twice about slipping the mask over this guy's face.

I hope your not around If I ever need help.

 

[MakoSince70]

Big T, you are correct about the over weight situation. That is why this lady sank like a stone. With the 30 pounds she was a rock. Even though we weight a student at the pool, the first thing at the lake they get weighted again. The DM and instructors carry extra clip weights just in case we need them for a student. A properly weighted student, with BC deflated is going to sink slowly if they slip off the platform. Not a problem to catch them.

 

[GeekDiver]

During my OW cert class we had a lady that had a similer issue.

Durring our pool sessions she did good, no problems. When it came to the ow dives she was afraid of being cold and got a 7 mil for the dives. (for the pool work she wore a 3 mil) She didn't understand that she would need extra weight and did not have any notion of trim. The instructors added weight but didn't have enough normal weights to get her down.

They started to add clip on weights where ever they could and got her weighted. In the process of adding weight her trim was wacked. On the decent she started to turtle and went over backwards head first. Once the DM was able to get her to the platform she seemed ok but as soon as he let go she started over backwards and the first thing she could grab was the reg from my mouth. This could have been bad. The DM surfaced with her and swam her back in and no one was hurt but because of this she never completed the course.

Geek