Suit filed in case of "Girl dead, boy injured at Glacier National Park

[wnissen]

AND:
Drysuit inflator hose: extraneous equipment not necessary to attach?

This entire situation is so upsetting. She - they - should never have gone into the water in the first place.

Well, I will spot anyone one major mistake. Even extremely careful, experienced people make mistakes, which is why surgeons have checklists and ask the patient to mark a big big 'X' on the limb that is being operated on. In the disorganization of the combined class and the last-minute switch from wetsuits to drysuit, you can see how it could have been overlooked. It shouldn't happen, but people forget. It's the total lack of care surrounding the situation that is so galling: no safety checks, no pool orientation, no visibility at the site, the depth of the site, etc. etc. It hadn't occurred to me that part of the reason for the shallow depth of a "pool-like" site is to allow you to simply walk out, if necessary. Even if you are grossly overweighted, BCD busted, fins lost, as long as you have air and the ability to see the shore (which you should, since it's "pool-like"), you could walk out like Davy Jones's crew in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. But the victim didn't have that opportunity. I dove in Tahoe, as part of an altitude class, and there was a gentle slope into the abyss that certainly caused a frisson of mortality to cross my mind. But I was in my own gear, properly weighted (give or take 5 lbs.), 25 dives in cold water, during the day. Can't imagine what it was like in the dark.

The word "unbelievable" is often used hyperbolically, but I am in complete agreement with @boulderjohn. If I read this in a diving magazine I would have been convinced it was over the top to make some editorial point. The deceased's journal entry about her level of enthusiasm and excitement from the previous dive hints there was a lot of group energy and enthusiasm and excitement. What appears to be totally missing was professional supervision of exuberance. I don't know how easy it is to pierce the corporate veil in that state's courts, but unless the defense has an equally compelling brief of equally unbelievable facts backed up by video evidence, I hope they succeed.

I flipped to the end and it sounds like the owners were treating their corporation very loosely, including commingling the accounts.

@boulderjohn , I have nothing but the highest respect for your pedagogy and diving experience, but I am personally surprised that instructors don't have to at least audit the classes they teach. They may be extremely experienced, but they're not experienced in taking the class. And getting a PhD requires a lot more smarts and teaching experience than getting an instructor credential.

 

[KevinNM]

It's like firing a shotgun. You try to hit everyone you can.

My understanding is that if you don’t include someone and it later comes out that they were involved you are SOL. Or if the actual guilty parties spin stories that someone not being sued is really at fault and the jury buys it you are SOL. And the lawyers job is to collect money for their client, so people can pay to get out of the judgement it they are peripheral or willing to pay a lot.

 

[apenland01]

How in the world did she have 24 pounds of weight and then they find an additional 20 pounds for a total of 44 pounds of weight?

Wouldn’t she have known she was over weighted?

Wow just wow.

Glenn

With only 5 dives in her history and no dives in the last few years, it's hard to know what "over-weighted" even means until you are sinking to the bottom. I can't imagine the panic she faced when she realized she couldn't go up. At that point, trying to figure out how to ditch weight was the last thing on her mind....

 

[Wookie]

My understanding is that if you don’t include someone and it later comes out that they were involved you are SOL. Or if the actual guilty parties spin stories that someone not being sued is really at fault and the jury buys it you are SOL. And the lawyers job is to collect money for their client, so people can pay to get out of the judgement it they are peripheral or willing to pay a lot.

Worse. If you leave someone out, the rest of the defendants point their finger at the one person who wasn’t sued.

 

[boulderjohn]

Can you still teach a PADI AOW course (or drysuit course) if the company you work for has been dropped by PADI?

It would be the same as being an independent instructor.

 

[Ayisha]

If the allegations are true, this has got to be one of if not the worst case of incompetence, indifference, lack of duty of care, and gross negligence that I have ever heard of.

I'm confused as to why they were allowed to teach for PADI while the other case was being investigated.

I'm also wondering why PADI changed their public website so that non-professionals can no longer see the names of expelled instructors unless their member number is known. That doesn't really protect students that don't already have that information.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm also wondering why PADI changed their public website so that non-professionals can no longer see the names of expelled instructors unless their member number is known. That doesn't really protect students that don't already have that information.

Here is the first Google hit:
Expelled PADI Professionals | PADI

 

[Ayisha]

Here is the first Google hit:
Expelled PADI Professionals | PADI

Thank you. I actually searched on the PADI website and couldn't find it the menus. It was easy to find years ago.

In the complaint, it says you can't find expelled instructors without the member number.

It also includes only the last 10 years or so (PADI states a "few years"). I know a couple of instructors here who were expelled prior to that, but they're no longer on the list.

Interesting...

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Worse. If you leave someone out, the rest of the defendants point their finger at the one person who wasn’t sued.

Kind of ridiculous to point fingers though at the person who sold the dry suit though. I get the concept and I hope that person is removed from the list of defendants with minimal cost. I don't think it is an unreasonable assumption to think that when selling a dry suit to an instructor who contacted you, that the instructor would train them properly to use it.

 

[Centrals]

Thank you. I actually searched on the PADI website and couldn't find it the menus. It was easy to find years ago.

In the complaint, it says you can't find expelled instructors without the member number.

It also includes only the last 10 years or so (PADI states a "few years"). I know a couple of instructors here who were expelled prior to that, but they're no longer on the list.

The list should be kept permanently regardless of time.