Sanctum Movie: Decompression Sickness?

[FPDocMatt]

One of the characters in the movie Sanctum develops some kind of illness while down there. He coughs up blood. I presume this is decompression sickness. But why did it happen?

 

[DocVikingo]

He coughs up blood. I presume this is decompression sickness. But why did it happen?

Hi Matt,

I have not seen this movie, but coughing up blood is not a typical sign of DCS. Moreover, DCS does not commonly develop during a dive, but rather after surfacing.

Coughing up blood during a dive is much more consistent with a lung over-expansion injury, aka pulmonary barotrauma --> Pulmonary Barotrauma - Pulmonary Barotrauma Is a Risk for All Scuba Divers

Coughing up blood also can be seen in post-dive swimming-induced pulmonary edema (SIPE) --> Swimming-induced pulmonary edema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[TSandM]

My memory of the movie is vague, at best, except for the opening scenes, but wasn't it the father who coughed up blood? And I thought that was from trauma, rather than diving-related.

 

[ScubaSteve]

My memory of the movie is vague, at best, except for the opening scenes, but wasn't it the father who coughed up blood? And I thought that was from trauma, rather than diving-related.

I am in the same boat with poor recollection of the movie but do recall that the father coughed blood when he was thrown onto the ground and IIRC a stalagmite stabbed him.

 

[CT Sean]

IIRC it was an assistant who was coughing up blood due to "alleged" DCS. Like everyone else i'm foggy on the details, but I recall an explanation earlier in the movie that the assistant suffered a DCS hit once upon a time and could not safely dive anymore due to it.

Keep in mind it's a movie

*added* - i believe the idea was he was more susceptible to DCS to to the prior hit and the diving to escape the cave at the end triggered it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Sean has it right. He was supposedly bent very bad one other time and was not supposed to be diving again. After the monsoon hit and flooded the cave and the "experienced" cave explorers tied off to an unscured boulder that they managed to pull into the only way out they had to dive to find the only other way out. This assistant after one rather strenuous push supposedly got bent again. During the dry effort to find the way out he began to cough up blood and also developed a severe rash on his chest. Like a good movie diver he said nothing of this to anyone. Simply did the noble thing and hunkered down in a chute that was filling with water to drown himself and thus not slow down the rest of the disintegrating team.

Lots of people intentionally drowned in that film. Lots of stupid people as well.

 

[boulderjohn]

I went to see the movie interested primarily in the 3-D experience, only to learn that the theater I was seeing it in was not showing it in 3-D. That was my first disappointment. So I continued hoping for a good cave diving experience. That was my second disappointment. So I could finally hope at least to see a decent movie on any topic. That was my third disappointment.

That is one of the worst movies I have seen in the last few years, beaten out only by the time my wife dragged me to see Mama Mia!, during which I believe the other three men in the packed theater almost joined me in a group suicide.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

That was the singularly worst James Cameron movie I have ever seen ... and none of the diving scenes were very credible ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

That was the singularly worst James Cameron movie I have ever seen ... and none of the diving scenes were very credible ...

Although it probably does not qualify as a movie, I have seen much worse from him recently, and it makes me wonder what he is up to, frankly.

It was a History Channel presentation on archaeological evidence of the events described in Exodus. Cameron introduced it, and it had all sorts of high production visual effects you would expect from him as a producer. It starred the idiot who did the History Channel's series Naked Archaeologist, which is to archeology what McDonald's is to fine cuisine. Anyone who knows a thing about archaeology knows this guy knows nothing about it. In one NA episode, for example, he was trying to prove that some ancient group was present at some site in the past. The real archaeologist being interviewed said there was no way you could conclude that because there was absolutely no evidence for it. The NA replied that there was no evidence that they weren't there either, such as an inscription that said, "These people were never here." The real archaeologist just looked at him as stunned disbelief as the NA determined that the fact that there was no sign of these people proved that they must have been there. The entire Cameron-produced show on the Exodus was filled with such idiocy.

 

[Davemohio]

IIRC it was an assistant who was coughing up blood due to "alleged" DCS. Like everyone else i'm foggy on the details, but I recall an explanation earlier in the movie that the assistant suffered a DCS hit once upon a time and could not safely dive anymore due to it.

Keep in mind it's a movie

*added* - i believe the idea was he was more susceptible to DCS to to the prior hit and the diving to escape the cave at the end triggered it.

That is how I see it.

And the best part of the movie was when they are flying over the cave in the copter.