Wes Skiles Noted photographer's death will remain a mystery, medical examiner says

[Dsix36]

As always, I am just curious about something. As I am not familiar with certain types or styles of diving, let me apologize in advance for any thing I ask that might offend some one.

Earlier on in the forum is a case of a rebreather diver at Dutch Springs, who I believe was saved by the quick actions of his partner, who just happened to be his 15 year old daughter. Had she not have been there, or any partner for that matter, I believe the outcome would have been far worse.

What bothers me is that, it appears that in some instances for lack of a better word, some of these divers were diving by themselves.

The question begs to be asked , would Wes Skiles be here right now, if his partner were right on him?

It reminds me of another case I believe off the coast of New Jersey, were a young woman was 35 minutes late returning to the dive boat, just to have her body found on the bottom. Would she be here today if her partner was right with her?

The reason I may be a little bias to this issue is for the following, On July 11 of this year my wife suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. As she was non symptomatic there was absolutely no warning what so ever. Once again, had I not have been home, I am convinced she would not be here right now. Our health care provider stated that 50% of stricken people never make it to the hospital alive. As of this date, she has no side effects, injuries or handicaps from the illness. She is very lucky.

But....what if. What if the same thing had of occurred on our dive vacation, while she was diving? We had a LONG discussion of who I should be watching while diving. My wife was taking pictures and lagging behind the group. I instinctively stayed with her, and as a result lost sight of the group for awhile. When we got back on the boat she told me, in no uncertain terms, that it was my job to keep an eye on the group.

I told her, in no uncertain terms that, " no, it is my job to keep my eye on you ".

Now, what if, I had of kept my eye on the group, lost sight of my wife, and she had been stricken with that aneurysm? I would rather I know what I did, then been thinking of what I might have done.

It just seems to me that, in some of these instances, these tragedy's might have been avoided, as was the one at Dutch Springs, had a partner been there.

Since we do not know exactly what the cause of this tragedy was, there is no way to be certain if a buddy would have made a difference in the outcome or not.

I solo dive a lot and know for a fact that there have been times when a buddy would have made difficult situations much easier or even non events. There have also been times when a buddy would have made the situation much worse and possibly fatal to one or both of us.

I do not know how Wes felt living with a lower quality of life (coma, brain dead, etc), but there is always the possibility that an injured diver may end up with a fate worse that death. THIS IS MY OPINION ONLY and I have the appropriate legal papers to unplug my arse if warranted.

It is entirely possible that there was absolutely nothing a buddy could have done to prevent the tragedy.

I use a quote from another diver (Mark Chase) quite frequently that pretty much says it like it is:
I strongly believe that any diver not mentally prepared to be solo on a dive is inadequate to the task and using another diver as a crutch. However this fact doesn't stop me realizing diving with a competent buddy is always the best policy.

And another from Dave Sutton:
The only way to dive solo and remain safe, is if you refuse to dive with an idiot.

 

[legions]

DSIX, I agree wholeheartedly. Let me take it one step farther, by quoting George Benson in THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL.

People are always searching for a hero, people need someone to look up to.
I never found anyone to fulfill my needs,
So I decided long ago,

I LEARNED TO DEPEND ON ME.

And that's good advise, until that moment when you become unconscious under the water. At that moment it is kinda of hard to depend on yourself.

Now, you would think that your planning and training would have prevented that from occurring.

But things unfortunately happen. Sometimes with dire consequences.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[TSandM]

When Wes died, I was really upset about it, even though I had never met him. But I had seen a lot of his work, and knew the world had lost someone with extraordinary talent and an ability to disseminate a message. And it really hit me that I would never know why he died, and neither would his family, because no one was there when it happened. As it turns out, that was right -- no one is ever going to know, and if I were his family, I'd always wonder whether, if he had not been alone, he might be alive today. I started a thread about that at the time. I thought, and still think, that people who solo dive should put that into their list of things they have considered before they do what they do.

 

[cruiser]

TS&M--

The thought occurred to me that maybe his family does know, and has decided to keep it private. This is just speculation, but it seems appropriate that the family would be privvy to more information than the scuba diving community.

 

[sweir]

<<There have also been times when a buddy would have made the situation much worse and possibly fatal to one or both of us.>>

I can't think of a situtation when having a buddy would have made a "situation" worse. Can you explain?

 

[Crush]

TS&M--

The thought occurred to me that maybe his family does know, and has decided to keep it private. This is just speculation, but it seems appropriate that the family would be privvy to more information than the scuba diving community.

In DAN's 2008 Annual report they indicate that in 17% of dive fatalities in 2008 there was no COD reported by coroners or medical examiners. There is likely no conspiracy here, and certainly not one which extends to medical professionals. While it may be comforting to know what the true sequence of events was and what "the cause" was, life isn't always that simple.

 

[Cave Diver]

While it may be comforting to know what the true sequence of events was and what "the cause" was, life isn't always that simple.

Wait. You mean every department doesn't have a CSI lab like Miami that gives you full tissue sampling and DNA and autopsy results in 30 minutes or less?

 

[TSandM]

I do believe that, if the ME said there was no medical cause or equipment malfunction found, he is not lying. If he were simply going to cover something up, he would not have issued a public statement.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

<<There have also been times when a buddy would have made the situation much worse and possibly fatal to one or both of us.>>

I can't think of a situtation when having a buddy would have made a "situation" worse. Can you explain?

In cave diving there is a term called a buddy plug. There are many places best done solo if you like those places.

That being said, Wes wasnt diving alone. He just went up alone while others stayed. I will say doesnt sound like they are staying in a tight group tho. As Lynn said its very sad, I did meet him and I wont forget it. Very funny and likeable guy.

 

[David_57]

Why would the topic of Solo diving come up again, the fact is that's the way he chose to dive and obviously he was well informed of the risks and probably more experienced than 90% of the divers on this board . The fact is he's dead Solo or not and there is no established COD period, it irks me when someone takes an sad event like this to grandstand their opinions on Solo Diving.