Annual Diving Report - Divers Alert Network

APPENDIX B. DIVE FATALITY CASE REPORTS
approximately 100 ft (30 m) behind the boat. The decedent indicated that he was out of air and
could not inflate his buoyancy compensator. He struggled on the surface and lost consciousness
before making it back to the boat. The autopsy report was not made available but the death was
determined to be a drowning due to a cardiac event. The decedent had a history of hypertension
and elevated cholesterol levels. With the seemingly controlled ascent, an air embolism is less
likely though still a possibility.
04-49 Newly certified diver with heart disease, planned dive to wreck but didn’t reach
depth, witnessed to swim away from group, found unconscious on surface
Cause of Death: Drowning due to Cardiac Dysrhythmia
This 51-year-old male had recently received his initial open-water certification and had only made
6 lifetime dives. He was making a shore entry dive down to a wreck with a group of divers. The
water in the area was 50 fsw (15 msw) but the decedent only made it down to 13 fsw (4 msw) for
a bottom time of 4 minutes. The decedent was witnessed swimming away from the group and
then was brought to the beach by two surfers who found him unconscious on the surface. There
was no evidence of pulmonary barotrauma at autopsy but there was significant coronary artery
disease and left ventricular hypertrophy. The death was determined to be a drowning due to a
cardiac event. An evaluation of the decedent’s equipment showed that he was wearing 24 ½pounds.
04-50 Diver with unknown experience and heart disease, made shore dive with
inexperienced buddy who ran low on air and surfaced but victim did not, found
unconscious on bottom
Cause of Death: Drowning due to Cardiac Dysrhythmia
This 38-year-old male had an unknown amount of diving experience but had been certified for 3
years. He made a shore entry dive to 50 fsw (15 msw) with a large group and with a somewhat
inexperienced buddy. The buddy became low on air and signaled to the decedent to surface but
only the buddy surfaced. The decedent was found unconscious on the bottom 30 minutes later.
Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. The autopsy demonstrated changes associated with
drowning as well as atherosclerosis of a coronary artery that supplies a critical area of the heart.
He also had hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart, fat infiltration of the right ventricle of the
heart, and fatty change of the liver.
04-78 Inexperienced, recently certified diver with multiple medical conditions and
medications, buoyancy problems at depth, buddy couldn’t assist to surface, lost
consciousness and found on bottom
Cause of Death: Drowning due to Cardiac Dysrhythmia
This 56-year-old male had multiple medical problems including insulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus, severe coronary artery disease. One and a half years earlier he required stents to be
placed in his coronary arteries. The diver was on numerous medications, including an
anticoagulant. Both he and his wife had received their initial open-water certification one month
earlier and completed five lifetime dives (a number reported in the same newspaper article that
called them experienced divers). The diver and his buddy made a shore entry dive in a lake and
he had buoyancy problems while at depth. His buddy attempted to render assistance but could
not physically get him the surface. The diver lost consciousness at depth and his body was
brought up 30 minutes later. An autopsy was performed but the report was not made available.
The death certificate lists cardiovascular disease as the cause of death, but it was signed by a
Justice of the Peace rather than a physician. The accounts of rescue personnel who describe
fluid in the airway and the circumstances make drowning due to a cardiac event a much more
likely scenario.
Annual Diving Report: 2006 Edition 77