Search & Recovery diver dead - Fort Hood, Texas

[DandyDon]

Diver succumbs to injuries suffered during search operation

FORT HOOD, Texas A diver working with local search teams died April 16 after extraction from House Creek and transportation to an area hospital April 15.

The diver, a volunteer with the Morgan's Point Resort Dive Team, was evacuated by ground ambulance to Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, stabilized, and transported by air to Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas.

The diver did not survive and died early Sunday morning.

Further details are being withheld until the family has been notified and a review of the circumstances surrounding the incident is complete.

At approximately 6:30 p.m. April 15, Fort Hood's Directorate of Emergency Services boat team personnel requested additional assistance for a diver in distress in House Creek, where teams were continuing to search for an individual missing since April 11.

Additional fire and emergency services assets were dispatched to the area to assist, in conjunction with more divers from the Morgan's Point Resort Dive Team.

"We extend our sincere and heartfelt condolences to the diver's family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time," said Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, commanding general of III Corps and Fort Hood. "We are grateful to everyone who has participated in this operation over the past 6 days, especially our local and regional partners assisting in the search." said Funk.

Separate investigations will be conducted by Fort Hood officials and the Morgan's Point Resort Police Department. To safeguard the investigative process, Fort Hood will not release further details at this time.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Sad

 

[PvilleStang]

Came to see if anyone had posted up on this. Why would you airlift someone with dive related injuries? If this was indeed AGE or bends, hope someone's getting their medical license revoked.

 

[Marie13]

Came to see if anyone had posted up on this. Why would you airlift someone with dive related injuries? If this was indeed AGE or bends, hope someone's getting their medical license revoked.

Why would you airlift someone with injuries from an auto accident?

 

[archer1960]

Came to see if anyone had posted up on this. Why would you airlift someone with dive related injuries? If this was indeed AGE or bends, hope someone's getting their medical license revoked.

As with most medical decisions, it's a judgement call on the part of the personnel involved. If the injuries are serious enough and can't be managed on site, the speed of an airlift may override the additional risk of an DCS/AGE. Or, they may have known that it's not an injury that would be aggravated by a flight. Not nearly enough information for anybody here to second-guess the people on site.

 

[boulderjohn]

Came to see if anyone had posted up on this. Why would you airlift someone with dive related injuries? If this was indeed AGE or bends, hope someone's getting their medical license revoked.

Airlifts are commonly used to transport dive accident victims, including those suspected to have DCE or AGE. A low-flying flight will have nearly no effect on either injury.

In this case, the most likely cause would be a cardiac event anyway, and they would been able to make that diagnosis before boarding the flight.

 

[JohnnyC]

Came to see if anyone had posted up on this. Why would you airlift someone with dive related injuries? If this was indeed AGE or bends, hope someone's getting their medical license revoked.

Quite often, helicopter is the quickest and most efficient to get a diver to a chamber. The pressure differential between the surface and the altitude that a helicopter would fly en route to a chamber is negligible. And typically well worth the time saved getting them into a hyperbaric chamber.

Of course, if it was non-dive related (heart attack for instance), speed being of the essence would be another reason to fly them out.

We don't know the dive profile. DCS may not even be on the radar.

 

[tilikum]

The article is really short on details. It doesn't even say if some sort of trauma was involved.

 

[Sevenrider860]

Came to see if anyone had posted up on this. Why would you airlift someone with dive related injuries? If this was indeed AGE or bends, hope someone's getting their medical license revoked.

The diver was assisting with the search for a man whose car was swept away in a creek. Plenty of hazards, but I suspect DCS resulting from excessive depth and time was not the cause. However, the distance from Darnall Army Medical Center to Scott & White Hospital is less than 30 miles driving, even less as the crow (or helicopter) flies. That airlift by helicopter would be at an altitude where there would minimal concerns, even if the patient was suffering from DCS or an over-expansion injury. DAN arranges airlifts for divers to get them to chambers or for advanced treatment...and they fly the patient lot farther than 30 miles.

 

[iamrushman]

airlifting dive emergencies is standard procedure and usually a must from the ocean or other dive sites.......