Suit filed for Carbon Monoxide fatality - Washington state

[DandyDon]

Estate of man who died on Puget Sound dive excursion sues for wrongful death | Crime | The News Tribune

The estate of an Oregon man who drowned on a Puget Sound diving excursion has sued the groups that led the trip, including a Pierce County-based charter boat service.
The wrongful death suit, filed last week in Pierce County Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages for the estate of Robert Vance of Oregon City, Oregon.
Vance, 40, died Nov. 19, 2011, leaving behind a son, now 19.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Vance’s death an accident.
The lawsuit contends Steve’s Scuba Center of Milwaukie, Oregon; Bandito Charters of the Tacoma area; and Scuba Schools International of Fort Collins, Colorado, were negligent in their supervision of the excursion on which Vance died.
Rick Meyers, owner of Bandito Charters, declined to comment last week. Attempts to reach representatives of Steve’s Scuba Center and Scuba Schools International were unsuccessful.
According to the lawsuit, Vance had made 23 dives before Nov. 19, 2011, but was making his first cold water boat dive that day.
He and several other student divers were aboard The Sampan, a dive boat operated by Bandito, when it left a dock near Gig Harbor that morning.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Jay Chock of Portland, contends Steve’s Scuba Center provided Vance with two air tanks that day, both of which contained toxic levels of carbon monoxide.
When Vance entered the water alone just before 10 a.m., he almost immediately began experiencing equipment problems, including loose swim fins and trouble with his breathing apparatus, the lawsuit states.
“Robert Vance was clearly distressed, exhausted, light-headed and was struggling to stay afloat,” the suit states.
Instead of helping him out of the water, dive instructors and deckhands shouted instructions, the lawsuit contends.
Vance then passed out and sank to the bottom in 52 feet of water. It took between five and 10 minutes to rescue him, according to the suit.
“He was brought to the surface and CPR was performed at length until the boat reached the dock and Robert Vance was transported to Tacoma General Hospital, where he remained in an unconscious state until he was pronounced dead at approximately 5:40 p.m. that same day,” the lawsuit shows.
The defendants could have and should have done more to save Vance, according to the suit.
“Defendants failed to read and react to Mr. Vance’s panic and thereby properly respond and rescue him in accordance with industry custom, practice and applicable standards, and, in doing so, failed to preclude his injury and death,” the suit states.

Read more here: Estate of man who died on Puget Sound dive excursion sues for wrongful death | Crime | The News Tribune
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[TSandM]

Oh, this is incredibly tragic. It is standard procedure on Puget Sound charter boats, that the crew is not suited up, and therefore cannot get in the water with a distressed client. Rick does not deserve this lawsuit. I have always felt very safe on Bandito charters.

 

[descent]

... It is standard procedure on Puget Sound charter boats, that the crew is not suited up, and therefore cannot get in the water with a distressed client. Rick does not deserve this lawsuit. I have always felt very safe on Bandito charters.

If some crewmembers had been suited up and entered the water to help the distressed diver, could that have left the boat short handed if something came up on the surface?

In other words, does their SOP reserve 100% of crew time for nautical problems, and 0% for "scubical" problems?

 

[DandyDon]

When I dived California Channel islands a few times, the boat crews did suit up and did enter the water to help if needed. The one day I dived a Puget charter, I didn't notice any crew suiting up, but my experiences in both locations are very limited. The story may well not be accurate, but it seems to suggest that the victim was a student of Steve’s Scuba Center who sponsored the trip from Oregon, so I might wonder if they provided any safety divers?

The other message to the agency, boat operator, and the trip sponsor is one they seem to have ignored too long: CO tank testers are fast and economical now so all three should emphasis tank testing, for every tank regardless of source or provider's record, and - charters and centers need to provide these for use on organized trips, on each & every tank. If every charter and center in the US had bought one, Analox wouldn't have stopped producing them but the industry failed again in this long, known risk. I like the Analox unit better than the others, but there are others still available.

Not too many years ago, the toxic CO would have gone undiscovered and the accident written off as drowning & diver error - and many still are I think, but discoveries are now being made so the operators and centers are finally being exposed for ignoring this risk.

 

[BRT]

If some crewmembers had been suited up and entered the water to help the distressed diver, could that have left the boat short handed if something came up on the surface?

In other words, does their SOP reserve 100% of crew time for nautical problems, and 0% for "scubical" problems?

On dive boats in the PNW the boat is to get you to the site and get you away from it. If you don't have on your big boy pants you need to hire someone to take care of you in the water. I have no idea if that was done. Dive shops often charter a boat and put together a group of people to go on the boat but they are not there to hold your hand.

 

[KevinNM]

IANAL, but the fact that it seems to be generally accepted by experienced divers that the boat crew does not have a duty to rescue does not necessarily mean that this is actually the case. I have no idea what the law and case law says about this, or what argument the plaintiff's attorneys plan to make to get a jury to hold them liable. I guess we'll find out.

But the store seems to be in a rather bad spot if the allegations are generally accurate. No idea how they plan to drag SSI into it, but I guess we will find out.

 

[Zippsy]

No idea how they plan to drag SSI into it, but I guess we will find out.

They are waiting for Brian Carney to do that for them.

 

[Keith.M]

Oh, this is incredibly tragic. It is standard procedure on Puget Sound charter boats, that the crew is not suited up, and therefore cannot get in the water with a distressed client. Rick does not deserve this lawsuit. I have always felt very safe on Bandito charters.

No kidding? On all charter boats on Puget Sound?

I know here in California, there is no DM in the water, but there is usually one on deck in a wet suit.

I honestly can't see that it would be "standard procedure" to not be ready for a rescue. And then after one was needed, to be able to back off to, well... It is standard procedure... Really?

I am all for being independent. But when you are running a charter, you should be able to perform a rescue and not back off to "It's standard procedure for us to not give a damn"

 

[chillyinCanada]

Doesn't the story sound as if there were other divers in the water with him? I'm reading it that way.

But if the guy's tanks were that contaminated, weren't any of the other divrrs tanks also contaminated. Wouldn't that be the reason he either started having problems or at leadt was unable there deal with them?

Don't forget to drop weights folks, if you need to and reads like he couldn't stay on the surface.

 

[D_B]

any other evidence that any tanks had contaminated air?