Unknown Woody From “Dive Talk” DCS and Medical Journey

[Baker_Dive]

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Woody had DCS after a cave dive in Abaco, Bahamas. He experienced neurological symptoms of DCS immediately after surfacing(slight symptom at depth as well).Woody was completely exhausted and could not catch his breath/ move and take his own gear off. He was on immediate 02. For some reason these symptoms were ignored and they did not seek help at this time. It wasn’t until Woody was going in and out of consciousness and being generally unresponsive back at the house. If you watch the linked video, I believe they could have acted faster to getting treatment. However, we are all ego driven and do not want to admit we need help. I know how easy it is to brush off symptoms and try to play it cool. In the same breath what Woody experienced upon surfacing after thousands of dives should have sent alarm bells to him(he’s not thinking clearly) but should have been obvious to outside observer as portrayed in their video. To let it get to the point of Woody passing in and out of consciousness is crazy but sadly believable because we all want to try to ignore symptoms and seeking hospital help.

Once they realized this was a full blown emergency, Woody was taken to a clinic and calls were made to DAN. Woody was in an unequipped clinic with no resources/hypo chamber to treat him. Gus contacted DAN and asked for immediate help as woody had neurological DCS symptoms, in and out of consciousness. DAN then sent woody forms to complete as he’s in a hospital bed in and out of consicousness. Stuff like “employers phone number, employers address, spouses employer and insurance, etc..” (They show the forms in video) woody completeled them in an hour or so, then DAN told Woody it’d be atleast 24 hours before he gets choppered to Nassau, where they have a hypo chamber. DAN told them that flights were impossible at night. (This is all from woody and Gus’s account, they claim to be getting transcripts and will release them).

Within a few minutes of google and speaking with staff woody found a plane to come pick him up and take him to Nassau, woody paid $8300 to get this service, zero help from DAN, he also claims most of his cards denied the charges as suspicious and what not(woody is a millionaire that owns beach front hotel so if he has trouble with his cards with this kind of charge then us non multi millionaires need to heed what he says) woodys last hope was an American Express that approved the charges.

Once In Nassau, they find their way to a private hospital with a hypo chamber. Woody claims he was told by DAN that it would all be covered under DAN and he was now being taken care of,. Woody is taken aback when the hospital explains that he needs to pay $18,000 to start treatment. Amex approved and he was then in full care.

Why did they take so long to get woody help? I think this is a problem of us not wanting to admit something is wrong,

Could you afford $26,000 expense at a moments notice at 11:00 pm at night in foreign country? *woody has since been reimbursed for both charges. But he still had to come outta pocket or he was SOL

I think this is an interesting case to follow. This will hopefully help all of us divers in case we ever have a problem and need help from DAN. Dive talk claims they will get the transcripts and release them all. They claim to have been invited to a meeting with DAN ceo to help address these problems.

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[insomniac]

I was just about to hit post on my submission for this and saw you beat me to it..

This was a total failure on DAN's part, and I am guessing one of the only reasons they eventually got reimbursement for the flight was due to them being semi internet famous in the dive community.

Right on their website (Dive Accident Insurance), they state: "DAN must arrange transportation for covered emergency medical evacuation fees to be paid."

At the end of the day DAN is not an insurance provider, they resell a "custom" plan underwritten by, "National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa." and for NY residents, "The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York."

People need to know this, and that you might "get what you pay for," as DAN is relatively cheap. Ideally it would be best to have a non-emergency style Medivac insurance policy that costs a lot more but you don't have to die before they determine it's actually a defined emergency.

 

[-JD-]

Also being discussed here: Info - DAN Insurance worthless?

 

[Baker_Dive]

I was just about to hit post on my submission for this and saw you beat me to it..

This was a total failure on DAN's part, and I am guessing one of the only reasons they eventually got reimbursement for the flight was due to them being semi internet famous in the dive community.

Right on their website (Dive Accident Insurance), they state: "DAN must arrange transportation for covered emergency medical evacuation fees to be paid."

At the end of the day DAN is not an insurance provider, they resell a "custom" plan underwritten by, "National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa." and for NY residents, "The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York."

People need to know this, and that you might "get what you pay for," as DAN is relatively cheap. Ideally it would be best to have a non-emergency style Medivac insurance policy that costs a lot more but you don't have to die before they determine it's actually a defined emergency.

I agree.

I know scubaboard has a neutral, at best feeling for Dive Talk, but woody is a standup guy. We should all take what he is saying and heed it. He has the resources and connections most of us divers do not have. He still went through a night mare incident and had a bunch of trouble obtaining proper medical treatment from the Bahamas. You are correct in saying DAN only covered it because it’s Woody. If it was you or I, they’d tell us to kick rocks.

The most bothersome part is Woody is a connected millionaire in the dive industry and had all these issues. We’d all be screwed. I’ve gone to a lot more remote remote places than Bahamas and just imagine how screwed I’d be lol

 

[Cthippo]

Just a reminder that this is not a safe activity and that you can do everythong right (including being rich) and still end up dead.

 

[SlugLife]

Also being discussed here: Info - DAN Insurance worthless?

I think two threads is good; that one focused on the DAN controversy and coverage, and this one slightly more focused on the incident, medical care, and so on.

Just a reminder that this is not a safe activity and that you can do everythong right (including being rich) and still end up dead.

It also shows how even something like a YouTube channel, where they talk about dive-safety, accidents, and incidents all the time ... even they can have their own incidents. And as much as I focus on safety myself, I know I'm not immune either.

I'm curious what people think about the medical/dive incident itself.

 

[Whitrzac]

A normal person without Dan insurance would have been left on the island to deal with it themselves.
With dan insurance they would be medivaced within a day or so and have everything paid for up front.


How the 1% access Healthcare has no similarities with how the rest of us do.

 

[Baker_Dive]

A normal person without Dan insurance would have been left on the island to deal with it themselves.
With dan insurance they would be medivaced within a day or so and have everything paid for up front.


How the 1% access Healthcare has no similarities with how the rest of us do.

I think that’s the issue… a DAN member waiting over 24 hours for a medvac in the Bahamas. The fact Woody had to pay 26,000 upfront is the problem he’s addressing,

 

[Tom_Ivan]

I would like to see a bit of a round table discussion with a few experts (Doug Ebersole, Simon mitchell, David Doolette) on the pros and cons of in water recompression treatment immediately post dive.

Would also like to know if Woodie has been check for a PFO.

I note he uses GF 40/70 which is a bit outdated. He also mentioned that he adds a minute to his stop so this probably changes his further to something like 35/70?

 

[KevinNM]

Amex medical evacuation benefit would cover the flight, but must be arranged through them. The care afterward would not be covered.