Scuba Cobra
Contributor
I'm the OP. My thinking came from previous stories and finally this one-
Man Killed by Shark in Maui ID’d as Recently Retired Optometrist From NorCal
He was missing one leg from the knee down. I'm not a trained medic, so bear with me. Maybe these times are about right to bleed out-
"Femoral Artery: 5-60 minutes. The doctors also noted: “Pretty unusual to see these without compression by EMS)
Popliteal Artery: Located behind the knee, would be similar (but slightly less) to cutting the femoral artery."
So victim gets bit, long does it take to get them on deck or on shore? Are they going to bleed to death in the mean time? Can we get them up in say 10 minutes? My guess is maybe or no. Step one has always been stop the bleeding, Thus my thinking as to using a tourniquet.
Then a question is which tourniquet? I have no idea what is best. I thought an Israeli wrap might work as the long silicone strap wouldn't be bothered by salt water and repeated immersion. Maybe not such a good idea.
https://www.ratchetingbuckles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/EVAL-2012-12-Phase_I-m2-.pdf
Thoughts?
Femoral artery bleed out is 30-90 SECONDS, not 5-60 minutes. The best TQ's on the market at this time are the SOFTW and CAT. refer to my earlier post on which is better for Salt water use and why.
If it's a missing limb, I'd use whatever is available to make a makeshift tourniquet. I'm pretty certain I'd find something suitable. Worst case, I have some 2m of webbing on my backplate.
Anything less, I'd follow my first aid training. And I don't believe that a torniquet would be necessary to handle any of the scenarios I've been trained on; a pressure bandage would probably be sufficient in 99+ % of those scenarios.
I'm sorry, but this whole comment is just a big ball of "NO".
If somebody is loosing blood, regardless of Arterial or Venous bleed, you don't have time to be looking around for supplies to make a half ass TQ, and I'm saying this from personal experience on multiple occasions. And saying you have 2" webbing is the same piss poor argument that you always have a belt on.
Tourniquet's are cheap, and pretty small. If you have o2 or a med kit on board, there is absolutely no reason you can't have the proper equipment on board.