The Last Dive's Chrissy Rouse -- would he have survived today?

[H2Andy]

wow... so DIC basically means you're internally bleeding to death?

 

[Cacia]

microcoagulation. All your clotting factors get used. people usually get little purple petechiae (sp?). really does in the the kidneys, all the organs really. IF I remember correctly.

 

[TSandM]

DIC -- disseminated intravascular coagulation. You have a cascade of steps which has to take place for blood to clot. As you can imagine, under normal circumstances, that reaction is confined to a very local area. In DIC, whatever stimulus is leading to clotting is occurring throughout the body, within the vessels. You would think that would lead to clots, but what it really does is use up all the clotting factors and platelets in the blood, so that you can't clot anywhere you need to. Therefore, you can hemorrhage severely from minor injuries, like needle sticks, or bleed into your brain.

In addition, the process that INITIATES the DIC is often one that causes other inflammatory cascades to occur, leading to leaky vessels and severe shock. That is what tends to cause multiple organ failure.

I have seen many trauma patients in DIC after long, involved operations with multiple transfusions. A lot of those people survive, but only with long, complicated ICU stays.

I have never tried to draw blood from someone and gotten back foam. I cannot conceive of any circumstance or any treatment that would permit such a patient to survive.

 

[mstevens]

During his talk he discussed the case

Wonder if he has a HIPAA-compliant signed release to be discussing someone's identifiable personal medical information?

 

[426Scuba]

The reason I brought up communications, and I think one of the points Choudhury was making in his book, was that if they had a way to tell the surface of their gas problem, there might have been some way the boat could have staged gas for them so they wouldn't have had to make a direct accent to the surface. The accent was what killed them. I know very little about underwater communication systems, but I think their goose got cooked when they couldn't tell the surface of their problem. By the time the boat knew what was going on, it was too late.

In Shadow divers it was stated that the SEEKER usually staged an 02 regulator at 20' from a top side tank.

Was it in the water that day?????

 

[utdivermatt]

Just out of curiosity, and not to hijack the thread, but how does going to the surface to get air and returning to depth to deco compare to a recompression chamber, and for that matter, a correct deco. It seems to me you would have already been pretty hurt from the ascent, even if you could return down

 

[TSandM]

There was quite an extensive discussion that topic here.

 

[H2Andy]

Wonder if he has a HIPAA-compliant signed release to be discussing someone's
identifiable personal medical information?

just a few thoughts off the top of my head (I dont' do HIPAA stuff)

the Rouses died prior to HIPAA. it may not apply to them, since they never
"acquired the rights" HIPAA confers on (living) patients.

the doctor may have a release from the ex Mrs. Rouse

there are research exceptions to HIPAA. this type of lecture may
fall under that classification.

sorry i don't know more particulars, this is not my area of law.
this is not inteded as legal advice. please consult a qualified attorney.

 

[JeffG]

sorry i don't know more particulars, this is not my area of law.
this is not inteded as legal advice. please consult a qualified attorney.

LOL...Typical lawyer

 

[RIOceanographer]

Wonder if he has a HIPAA-compliant signed release to be discussing someone's identifiable personal medical information?

Well I don't know much about HIPAA, but during his talk he didn't reveal anything that wasn't already in the public record from a variety of other sources (i.e. that the Rouses died of severe complications of DCS) so I wonder if it would apply.