Report on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive

Appendix B: Fatality Case <strong>Report</strong>sout dives, the diver lost consciousness. At thattime, the instructor had gone back to depth toassist another student. The decedent wasfound unconscious at the surface. While an airembolism is certainly possibly with this diveprofile, the autopsy revealed coronary arterydisease and a heart that weighed more thanthree times what would be expected for thisman. He also had valvular heart disease. Themedical examiner determined the cause ofdeath to be drowning secondary to a cardiacevent.03-27 Experienced technical diver madewreck dive using a rebreather, separatedfrom buddy team, found unconscious onbottomCause of Death: Drowning due to CardiacDysrhythmiaThis 58-year-old male, an experienced diverwith technical diver certification, was makinga dive on a wreck in a four-person buddyteam. Before the dive, the diver had complainedof fatigue; he did not dive the daybefore with the others in the group. Duringthis dive, the decedent decided to go off on hisown. Since he had a habit of doing this, thebuddy separation did not alarm anyone. Sincethe dive was to 104 fsw (32 msw), the diverused a rebreather apparatus. The decedentwas found on the bottom, unconscious. Anautopsy was not performed. The rebreatherwas out of breathing gas, but an additional"bailout" pony bottle was full.03-42 Advanced certified diver withunknown experience, hypertension, heartproblems and tobacco abuse, made wreckdive and lost consciousness on bottomCause of Death: Drowning due to CardiacDysrhythmiaThis 51-year-old male had a medical historythat was significant for hypertension anddilated cardiomyopathy (a condition wherethe heart muscle becomes weakened and losesstrength to pump blood throughout the body),requiring multiple medications including ananticoagulant. He also continued to smoke.He had had advanced open-water certificationand had been diving for four years, but hisexperience level was not documented. Thedecedent and a buddy made a dive to a wreckat 110 fsw (34 msw) for 10 minutes. He hadd i fficulty ascending, and others witnessedthat he lost consciousness at the bottom. Hewas brought to the surface, but resuscitatione fforts were unsuccessful. The autopsyrevealed dilated card i o m y o p a t h y, focallysevere coronary atherosclerosis and numerouscardiac medicines present on toxicology. Thediver’s equipment was also improperly configured,and he had tucked several of hishoses into his wetsuit.03-43 Student diver in poor health, panickedat depth, brought unconscious to surfaceCause of Death: Drowning due to CardiacDysrhythmiaThis 52-year-old male was a student in an initialopen-water certification class. His medicalproblems included morbid obesity, diabetes,obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension. Thedecedent stopped taking his blood pressuremedication two days before the open-waterdives because he thought he should dive withoutany medications in his system. The divermade three check-out dives that were remarkableonly for his having trouble equalizing hisears. After descending to 51 fsw (16 msw) witha buddy, the decedent appeared to be in distressand panicked on the bottom. He wasassisted to the surface but was unconsciousand could not be resuscitated. The medicalexaminer ruled the death as being due todrowning secondary to a cardiac event. An airembolism cannot be entirely excluded, but thediver appeared to have lost consciousnessat depth, which makes a cardiac event morelikely.112DAN’s <strong>Report</strong> on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive Exploration: 2004 Edition