Report on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive

Appendix B: Fatality Case <strong>Report</strong>sindicated that she was fine, then rapidly lostconsciousness and could not be resuscitated.This was a fairly classic story for an airembolism.03-72 Experienced diver died whilespearfishing, separated from buddy,found laterCause of Death: Air Embolism due to RapidAscentThis 40-year-old male was an experienceddiver with open-water certification. He madea shore-entry dive with a buddy but began thedive with a tank that was less than half full.Because he had less air than his buddy, theyquickly separated; the decedent went to 58fsw (18 msw) while his buddy descended past100 fsw (30 msw). The two reunited briefly butagain went off in different directions. Thedecedent’s buddy surfaced and could notlocate the other diver. The body was locatedan hour later by the Coast Guard. The cause ofdeath was determined to be an air embolism.The autopsy also disclosed focally severe coronaryartery disease and fatty change of theliver.03-71 Inexperienced diver ran out of air, didemergency ascent and lost consciousness atsurfaceCause of Death: Air Embolism due toInsufficient AirThis 59-year-old male, who was obese, hadrecently been certified and had completed 10lifetime dives. He went to 68 fsw (21 msw) for21 minutes. During the ascent, the decedent’sbuddy stopped at the safety stop, but the decedentcontinued to the surface. At the surface,he called for assistance and lost consciousness.The medical examiner ruled the cause of deathto be an air embolism. The diver’s tank wasempty.Proximate Cause: Drowning / AirEmbolism03-10 Elderly diver with multiple healthproblems on advanced open-water trainingdive to wreck, developed problem on bottomCause of Death: Drowning due to AirEmbolismThis 67-year-old female had been diving for 11years, but her certification status and level ofexperience are unknown. She had a history ofearly onset dementia, aphasia and osteoporosis.During what was apparently part of anadvanced open-water certification course, thediver was making a "training dive" on awreck. Possibly over-weighted, she developedan unknown problem on the bottom (30 feet),approximately 12 minutes into the dive. Themedical examiner determined the cause ofdeath was accidental drowning. The dive profileand evidence on the decedent’s computer(an ascent rate violation) made an airembolism a likely contributing factor. She wasalso found to have fatty infiltration of the rightventricle of the heart, which has been associatedwith sudden cardiac death.03-33 Experienced diver did five successivespearfishing dives, sank after rapid ascentto surface, found on bottom.Cause of Death: Drowning due to AirEmbolismThis 23-year-old male was an experienced,certified diver. He was using nitrox to make aseries of deep (in excess of 110 fsw / 34 msw)dives to spearfish. After completing at leastfour dives, his final dive, without a buddy,was to 122 fsw (37 msw). The decedentspeared a large grouper and made a rapidascent. He descended again and, while thespeared grouper came to the surface, the diverDAN’s <strong>Report</strong> on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive Exploration: 2004 Edition 109