Lusitania dive accident - insufficient insurance

[DandyDon]

Excerpt from Gofundme page: Click here to support Kim Martin’s Road To Recovery - Save A Hero’s Life organized by Pat Shannon

During the decompression portion of the dive an unexpected incident occurred and one of the divers, Kim Martin, surfaced without completing his decompression stops. Kim
was treated at the surface then whisked off by helicopter to the nearest hyperbaric
chamber in order to save his life. Since the incident, Kim has faced a number of
challenges and still has a very long road to recovery. Kim has been in an induced coma
while he continues a daily routine of hyperbaric treatments. There have been many
complications, most pertinent being his brain, lungs and spinal cord. Kim has undergone two surgeries for his brain and has suffered a lack of blood oxygen to the spinal cord
that is effecting him from the chest down. Kim is unconscious and remains on life
support. Kim is still fighting for his life and his condition is often changing. We are still
waiting for the day when Kim will be stable enough to test his cognitive function and
ensure there is no permanent damage to his brain.

A little more about the diver, James (Kim) Martin. Kim is well known by many in the dive community as a very experienced diver, cave explorer and hero.

Kim was awarded the Canadian Medal of Bravery on September 20, 1996 for the
rescue of a fellow diver.

On August 6, 1995, Kim helped in the rescue of a lost diver in Tobermory, Ontario. The man had become separated from his partner and was believed to be dead after many
hours trapped in a submerged cave. Responding to the partner's request for help, Kim
dove into the chilled waters despite inadequate equipment. The darkness, loose gravel and hazardously narrow, unfamiliar passages made it impossible for him to locate the
passage taken by the victim. The lost diver was located and Kim assisted in bringing him to safety.

Brief news story dated August 8: Diver reportedly suffering from 'the bends' airlifted from site of Lusitania wreck

A diver rescued by a Naval Service ship after getting into difficulties at the site of the Lusitania wreck was later airlifted to hospital, reportedly suffering from decompression sickness, otherwise known as 'the bends'.

Emergency services were scrambled at around 10am this morning when it was reported that one of a group of civilian divers near the wreck had got into difficulties.

LÉ George Bernard Shaw, captained by Lieutenant Commander Philip Dicker, went to the scene along with the Courtmacsherry-based all-weather Trent Class RNLI lifeboat Frederick Stormy Cockburn.


It is understood the diver managed to reach the boat he and his colleagues had dived from, but was in a serious condition on arrival.

His colleagues radioed for help and a navy medical team was dispatched to their boat from LÉ George Bernard Shaw.

The Waterford-based coastguard helicopter RII6 was dispatched to the scene, 12 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, by the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Centre in Valentia.

The helicopter airlifted the diver from the navy ship and took him to Cork University Hospital where he received further treatment.

He was then airlifted again to the recompression unit at Galway University Hospital.

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread has been moved from the Accidents forum for wider exposure of the need to help this diver, if you are so inclined.

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[michael-fisch]

There is no excuse not to have DAN insurance or something compatable.
I wish him the very best recovery possible and hope that the go fund me page is for non hospital expenses.

Michael

 

[chris kippax]

Would DAN insure someone on a 300ft open ocean cold water dive?

 

[KenGordon]

Would DAN insure someone on a 300ft open ocean cold water dive?

Definitely, but I am under the impression you’d get potted there for free wherever you are from. That is the case in the U.K. ongoing treatment I am not so sure about.

 

[chris kippax]

Definitely, but I am under the impression you’d get potted there for free wherever you are from. That is the case in the U.K. ongoing treatment I am not so sure about.

Thanks Ken
I thought they would say no for sure!

 

[KenGordon]

Thanks Ken
I thought they would say no for sure!

Here, for U.K. residents, DAN Europe - Sport Member it says no depth limits. I think if you look very carefully there is a corner which says you need to post a plan if greater than about 120m or some such.

The absence of stupid depth limits or the requirement to dive with a ‘professional’ is a key advantage of DAN when compared to the casual insurance that comes with travel policies etc.

I am not sure where the injured diver actually lives, but there is more to being hurt than the direct medical costs which DAN and like like cover. Maybe he cannot work or get about without help.

 

[michael-fisch]

Accident happened in Irish waters, and the patient is being treated in an Irish hospital

Michael

 

[DandyDon]

There is no excuse not to have DAN insurance or something compatable.
I wish him the very best recovery possible and hope that the go fund me page is for non hospital expenses.

Michael

Yeah, I agree. DAN is a member owned & driven organization, even tho some directors have made fortunes on their involvements at times, and insurance products supplied are furnished by outside companies that bid for the business. Their dive insurance is the only one I like, but I consider it essential for US & Canadian residents.

I presume he had top tier DAN accident insurance for this trip. The top plan in Canada has limits tho, and he may well exceed all of them! He's had two brain surgeries, etc.
See DAN | insurance: dive

Definitely, but I am under the impression you’d get potted there for free wherever you are from. That is the case in the U.K. ongoing treatment I am not so sure about.

I think UK's medical insurance is for UK citizens. I would not expect anything free if I was there.

 

[KenGordon]

Yeah, I agree. DAN is a member owned & driven organization, even tho some directors have made fortunes on their involvements at times, and insurance products supplied are furnished by outside companies that bid for the business. Their dive insurance is the only one I like, but I consider it essential for US & Canadian residents.

I presume he had top tier DAN accident insurance for this trip. The top plan in Canada has limits tho, and he may well exceed all of them! He's had two brain surgeries, etc.
See DAN | insurance: dive


I think UK's medical insurance is for UK citizens. I would not expect anything free if I was there.

We don’t have medical insurance, we have a health system which is free.

If you come here and need emergency treatment it is free too Visitors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) So if you get in a chamber because of some long term issue you’d be paying but because you corked it from the Moldavia then you’d not pay.

Chambers are a bit complicated as they are often/mostly/all run by outside companies within hospitals but all the publicly available ones are funded by the NHS. That means that if I turn up at one my local health authority (or whatever they are branded as this week) will be getting a bill for £5k or so.

Eventually there is a line between emergency treatment and healthcare. Daily Mirror readers think that people will come and steal healthcare so there are processes in place to waste staff time preventing that, but if you have been hit by a bus you are safe from that initially.

Looking here it looks like the whole NHS manages to recoup about as much as a typical hospital car park takes. NHS trusts call in the bailiffs to chase ineligible patients’ debts

Having said all that I still have DAN cover for diving in other EEA contrives. There is more to a diving accident than the direct medical costs.

 

[DandyDon]

you corked it from the Moldavia

I guess you're referencing the wreck, not the country, but I'm guessing on the "corked it." I don't know where you live, but you said "we," and my British friends confuse me with some terms they use. I guess you're referencing an uncontrolled ascent? So if I came to the UK, I would not need trip insurance medical coverage?

I don't know what diving insurance this fellow might have had, who set up the Gofundme or why, or for that matter what caused his accident. I see that site referenced at times in cases when people had been too cheap to buy insurance and often ignore those. This fellow seems to be barely on this side of death's door, and I hope he comes out of it a non-vegetable.