Canadian fatality - Playa del Carmen, Mexico

[DandyDon]

More info may be available soon, but this news story really doses not make sense. He got bent one day, treated in the chamber, then went back diving - in a cave - and died?

Quebecer dead in Mexico after scuba diving incident - Montreal - CBC News

A man originally from Alma, Que. died in southern Mexico after a scuba diving excursion went wrong last Thursday.
Martin Simard, 57, who was on vacation in Playa del Carmen in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, was an experienced diver and was well-known amongst the region’s diving community.
The day before his death, he had to undergo a hyperbaric chamber treatment after resurfacing too quickly while scuba diving.
Decompression sickness, also known as the bends, can only be treated by entering a pressurized chamber.
The following day, he returned to the Caribbean, scuba diving in underwater caves. However, he had to be helped to the surface after starting to feel ill.
Simard was an engineer living in Quebec City.

 

[peterbj7]

IF the report is accurate, and that's a big "IF", he sounds like an absolute nutter.

 

[stevep4444]

Here is a link to another report:

Mexico Gulf Reporter Supplement: Canadian scuba diver dies in Riviera Maya

 

[DandyDon]

Here is a link to another report:

Mexico Gulf Reporter Supplement: Canadian scuba diver dies in Riviera Maya

"A news service reported that Simard had an undisclosed medical condition which precluded scuba diving, but offered no facts to support its claims." Well, if he was bent and chamber treated the day before, yeah...?

 

[Dsix36]

There is no way in h**l that any hyperbaric doctor would release a patient to dive again the next day. If the reports are accurate, I would say that Darwin got his rightful person this time.

 

[robertarak]

More info may be available soon, but this news story really doses not make sense. He got bent one day, treated in the chamber, then went back diving - in a cave - and died? The article says he was an engineer, but I believe this is his page describing him as a retired hockey player: Martin Simard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quebecer dead in Mexico after scuba diving incident - Montreal - CBC News

Your wiki webpage is for a 46 year old, not a 57 year old...probably the wrong guy. "Martin Simard (born June 25, 1966 in Montreal, Quebec"

 

[rongoodman]

My understanding is that the shop asked him to be evaluated by a local diving MD prior to diving, not that he was bent or received a chamber ride.

 

[DandyDon]

Your wiki webpage is for a 46 year old, not a 57 year old...probably the wrong guy. "Martin Simard (born June 25, 1966 in Montreal, Quebec"

Thanks, I can't add & subtract in my head, shouldn't even try. Edited my original post.

 

[RayKay]

My understanding is that the shop asked him to be evaluated by a local diving MD prior to diving, not that he was bent or received a chamber ride.

That certainly would make for a different story than was in the press release above (and if someone did go diving the day after a chamber ride, they are indeed competing for a Darwin Award), but still raises the question of what was his medical condition and was he cleared for diving?

The shop apparently was concerned enough to send him to a diving MD before allowing him to dive. Did he dive with the same shop, or just go find a new one I wonder?

 

[orm]

I feel for the guys at Chac Mool. They already have the highest standard of guide checks.

Too many accidents there.