Dunderberg Death

[Tortuga68]

150' probably isn't going to have a large deco obligation

Depends how long you've been there. I don't see any facts on that for this dive

Minimum you're going to have 3 minutes safety stop plus 4-5 minutes at 9m/minute ascent, so total 7-8 minutes to be safe, plus whatever time you spent working out what was going on (not for deco but foe the victim to potentially be in trouble). Even if you're prepared to blow the safety stop it's still 4-5 minutes. That's a long time if you can see the guy's not breathing (unclear in this case)

OTOH if you've been down for 30 minutes it's going to be around 25+ minutes total deco in which case you are almost definitely going to get bent

IF he was shot to the surface (also unclear) then standard procedure was followed - as someone said, AGE is the lesser of evils

I don't think any of us can truly say what we would do unless we've been in the situation (happy to say I haven't) but it would probably vary according to the relationship with the victim (which is also not clear in this case)

Again, SOP of not creating another injury was followed, so good work IMHO

 

[rsearls]

I'd put some air in his BC and send him up, too... probably. Or, I may drag him up with me and hang out at Deco. Then maybe send him on his way from my first deco stop.

If you have a deep stop, send him to get medical attention ASAP.

 

[BoneCrusher]

I am curious to your 4th point. What gear are you talking about being limited on this type of dive? If I am going to plan a dive to 150' that includes incurring some deco then I doubt I am going to also plan on not having all the gear that I would normally have. However, I may be misreading your statement as to what you are referring to.

What would I do?- 150' probably isn't going to have a large deco obligation so I would like say that I am going to take the victim to the surface or to whatever point I can directly hand them off to my surface support. This may include skipping some stops so depending on if the emergency logistics dictated in my dive plan concerning if the boat would be leaving ASAP or if help was going to be coming towards us I would either return to depth to complete the deco obligations or get on board, start treating myself for an expected DCS hit and advise the appropriate medical resources of the situation.

My point in number 4 is that I didn't want someone come up with using strange gear that they normally wouldn't carry with them. I wanted people to think about the situation based on their normal diving techniques and gear for that type of dive.

 

[BoneCrusher]

I always carry a lift bag, slate and reel with me when I dive. I wonder about if in this situation, would there be any benefit scratching out a very brief, "HELP. Diver X in unconcious. Send help!" on the slate, attach that to the lift bag, and shoot that to the surface. Then ascend with the diver as fast as your profile allows and do a mid water handoff of the diver to the descending surface support. This is knowing that you have two divers on the surface boat.

Of course, this would be best if there was a pre-dive discussion on emergency procedures. The note would allow one person on the boat to immediately call (coast guard) for help, and the other diver to jump in and do the handoff.

Ok... So now... Tear that apart and let me know what you think...

 

[diverbrian]

I quit carrying a slate that I could write on some time ago. I never used it and when I tried, the pencil didn't show well. I have a wrist slate with emergency stops written on it per my dive plan, but that isn't much of a help in this case. I will amend that to say that if I send up a lift bag in any capacity not in a dive plan when I am wreck diving, it means that the surface support had better plan that something is wrong. I do discuss that with boat crews. That accomplishes the same basic thing as writing help on a slate.

I happen to agree with the poster who basically stated that the diver found is likely already gone and I am not risking a neurological DCS hit to bring up a body. I normally dive some type of helium mix at that depth and one of the risks of diving mix is that when you take a hit, it tends to be of the serious variety. I am not creating another casualty for a dead body. If I had a couple of minutes, I would chance going up with the body. If it was serious deco left, I would send the body up best as I can. I have dove that wreck a couple of times and at the end of a 25 minute or 30 minute profile (planning only one dive for each trip out there), I do have a serious deco obligation.

There is no perfect answer as to what to do. We aren't the ones in that situation. Only the diver immediately in that situation knows what happened precisely and even then, they will have perceptions colored by the events.

I would probably handle it much as it was handled with the exception of trying to inflate a marker on the person going up that would most likely be more visible than black dive gear. Preferably, the body would be near an anchor line and I could tie them off to the line so that they don't drift too far from the wreck.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

Shooting an unconcious diver to the surface will kill the diver if s/he's not dead already. The textbook way of doing it is to stay with the diver holding their neck back, keeping thier airway open allowing expanding gas to vent from the lungs.....How much deco you're willing to blow off is a whole other topic.

 

[TSandM]

If I encounter someone who is not part of my team, who is unconscious on the bottom at 150, I am probably going to inflate their BC and send them up. My team is different -- if someone goes unconscious, I know precisely when it occurred, and how much time I have to get a neurologically salvageable person to the surface. There, I'd take more risks. But an unknown person, with unknown down time? I wouldn't blow off much deco at all in that situation. I'm with cerich -- this is body recovery.

 

[cerich]

Shooting an unconcious diver to the surface will kill the diver if s/he's not dead already. The textbook way of doing it is to stay with the diver holding their neck back, keeping thier airway open allowing expanding gas to vent from the lungs.....How much deco you're willing to blow off is a whole other topic.

sorry you are incorrect. An unconscious diver will not block gas from escaping on assent.

 

[cerich]

I teach that the most important member of your dive team is the surface support member. They need to be completely dialed in to the dive plan and emergency procedures, including how the in water members will deal with a unconscious diver.

I carry two color bags (as does each member of my team) when technical diving in openwater. The plan is simple, when we shoot our orange bags, all is well/normal. If we shoot a yellow bag the SH%T has hit the fan. At that time surface support will assess the situation by suiting a diver and coming to the bags, immediately! Obviously if I have sent a dead diver up they will secure the body and try to convert back to a living person (in other words try CPR)>if they don't find a body floating on the surface I may have put a note from my wetnotes with the surface marker, they will read it and respond appropriately. (bring gas, plan for a search or whatever)

Basically once I have gotten surface support involved my team and I MUST go back to diving the plan (your plan includes emergencies yes?), this is critical to prevent further casualties and also to ensure that the current casualties will get the best chance of survival and the uninjured diving team members don't end up taking precious resources away from the casualty.

 

[Notso_Ken]

sorry you are incorrect. An unconscious diver will not block gas from escaping on assent.

Not intentionally, no. But, a neck bent a little forward or to the side will block the airway and restrict the air passage.