Wes Skiles' Widow Looking For 25 Million from Lamartek

[oya]

A.) I have great life insurance... but it specifically excludes diving

B.) If I die while diving, my wife has been told to check with my trusted dive buddy to see if it was likely my fault - or no one's fault - and proceed accordingly

A) I have life insurance through my work. No one ever asked whether I am a dive instructor (though, perhaps, they know because that's part of my job description). Or a CCR diver. Or a cave diver. And I'm worried that if I ask they'll cancel it before they have a chance to avoid paying it.

B) My wife and I have had long conversations about this. The biggest agreement we've got is to make sure the world knows whatever it was we did to screw up, make a bad decision, etc. to help the accident analysis people further dive safety and, hopefully, help someone else not do the same dumb thing.

 

[dreamdive]

They do forensics on all military diving equipment that result in both fatalities and incidents. They also will do, on a time available, forensics on recreational equipment. As you are so negative about NEDU capabilities, who do you say is more capable?

I am not knocking them at all. They understand OC equipment very well. But they do not know the difference between a Prism II from a rEvo, Optima, Kiss, Inspiration, etc.... they don't know the electronics between a HH vs a Shearwater. They don't because they don't use them. Their "UBA" diving is done on tables. They even have different decompression algorythms than the recreational divers do. So, they are not the experts when it comes to accident analysis on rebreathers. And they don't do it either, because of it.

You may not like my answer, but it is the truth and by no means diminishes the NEDU. They simply have a different focus.

 

[packrat12]

A.) I have great life insurance... but it specifically excludes diving

I think a lot of people think they are covered when they may not be. When I started technical, I found that many if not most had exclusions specially addressing deep diving. Basically, if you are deeper then 100' or technical, you very well might not be covered. Deeper then 130', most policies I looked at had an exclusion. I also saw references that many companies will not cover you if you are an active technical diver. If you do not admit to it, you may also be excluded through omission clauses. I would assume that CCR's are considered technical for every dive by insurance companies.

I highly recommend researching your policy if you are an active diver, both recreational and technical. Some policy exclusions were for dives deeper then 80' (I think) and at recreational levels.

 

[Leadking]

I am not knocking them at all. They understand OC equipment very well. But they do not know the difference between a Prism II from a rEvo, Optima, Kiss, Inspiration, etc.... they don't know the electronics between a HH vs a Shearwater. They don't because they don't use them. Their "UBA" diving is done on tables. They even have different decompression algorythms than the recreational divers do. So, they are not the experts when it comes to accident analysis on rebreathers. And they don't do it either, because of it.

You may not like my answer, but it is the truth and by no means diminishes the NEDU. They simply have a different focus.

You never answered my question. Who is more qualified?

 

[scagrotto]

I have great life insurance... but it specifically excludes diving

If your policy doesn't cover diving at all you don't have a great policy.

I wouldn't have any quarrel with a policy that excluded coverage or required a premium increase for technical diving, but the risk of a payout due to a death while engaging in recreational diving is vanishingly small compared to all the others ways a policy holder might die. According to DAN scuba deaths in the US are estimated to represent just 0.02 percent of all U.S. annual injury deaths. That barely even justifies modifying an accidental death benefit, let alone the general policy.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Edited to add: My brother-in-law didn't actually shove any legos up his ass. Not as far as I know. Nor is he dead. I was just making a point and it seemed pretty funny. My sincerest apologies if anyone reading's brother-in-law did actually die from legos up the ass.
There is a silver lining, though: there are lawyers on this very board who might take your case to sue Lego!

My God I don't know how I stifled from bursting out laughing while reading this during a break at work. Well played, sir, well played.

 

[RJP]

If your policy doesn't cover diving at all you don't have a great policy.

I wouldn't have any quarrel with a policy that excluded coverage or required a premium increase for technical diving, but the risk of a payout due to a death while engaging in recreational diving is vanishingly small compared to all the others ways a policy holder might die.

Recreational diving would have been covered. However, as a tech diver and instructor there was no way to get the significant amount of coverage I wanted at a premium that made sense. To cover the type of diving I do was nearly 3x the cost.

That being said, my trusted dive buddy knows that if I happen to die in a diving accident he is to bring me back to shore, strip me out of my gear, and run me over with his truck.

But I've said too much already...

 

[Johnoly]

oh boy.......sad story...court results will be interesting.

Closing arguments scheduled for this afternoon. It may go to the jury after that unless more time is needed in the morning for instructions, etc.

 

[OldPhotog]

That being said, my trusted dive buddy knows that if I happen to die in a diving accident he is to bring me back to shore, strip me out of my gear, and run me over with his truck.

Sounds like my friend's old saying, "If anything happens to you . . . we're splitting up your gear!"
I like your version too.

 

[Johnoly]

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