Report on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities - Divers Alert ...

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the surface alone. He surfaced, struggled andyelled that he was out of air before swimmingtoward a floating line. The decedent lost consciousnessand sank below the surface. Anautopsy showed evidence of cardiac disease,in addition to changes consistent with drowning.Contributing factors/significant diagnosesincluded coronary atherosclerosis, cardiomegaly,fatty liver and lymphocytic thyroiditis.01-31 Experienced dive instructor with faultyequipment and overweighted, returned todecompress, holding tank in armsCause of Death: Drowning due to airembolism, insufficient airThis 53-year-old female was a very experienceddiver and dive instructor making hersecond dive of the day. Her previous dive wasto 100 fsw (30 msw) and was uneventful.During the second dive, the decedent’s buddyran low on air and ascended without her. Shecame to the surface with an empty tank butwanted to return to depth to decompress. Thediver held a tank, regulator and buoyancycompensator with her hands while shereturned to depth. The equipment floated upto the surface four minutes later; her body wasrecovered from the bottom 30 minutes afterthat. The diver was wearing a drysuit but itwas improperly configured, and the quickreleasevalve for the integrated weights wasinoperable. The diver was also significantlyoverweighted. An X-ray at autopsy showedgas filling both chambers of the heart. Othersignificant findings at autopsy includedmyocardial fibrosis and mitral valve prolapse.Contributing factors/significant diagnosesincluded myocardial fibrosis and mitral valveprolapse.01-45 Diver found on bottom after makingmultiple dives to adjust anchorCause of Death: Drowning due to airembolismThis 36-year-old male had advanced openwatercertification and moderate diving experience.He made quick excursions to depth toadjust the anchor line while his dive buddywaited on the bottom. The dive buddy foundthe decedent unconscious on the bottom. Thedeath was certified only as a drowning, butthe history indicates that the diver likely sufferedan air embolism. Contributingfactor/significant diagnosis included tobaccoabuse. An incidental autopsy finding was theacquired loss of one kidney.01-70 Uncertified diver separated frombuddy and panicked, found on bottomCause of Death: Drowning due to airembolismThis 42-year-old male was making his thirddive of the day off a boat with a group of otherdivers. He had no formal training or dive certification.He separated from his buddytoward the end of the dive when he panickedand went to the surface. His dive buddy laterfound the decedent, on the bottom and unconscious.Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.The medical examiner concluded that thediver had drowned after suffering an airembolism, and the autopsy findings and historyare consistent with this finding.Contributing factors/significant diagnosesincluded fatty liver.DAN’s <strong>Report</strong> on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive Exploration: 2003 Edition 113
Proximate Cause: Cardiac01-05 Diving without completedcertification with multiple medicalproblems including heart diseaseCause of Death: Cardiac dysrhythmia due tocoronary atherosclerosisThis 62-year-old male had not completed initialopen-water certification course but wasmaking dives outside of his formal course andwithout the instructor. The decedent made adive to 105 fsw / 32 msw, without an assignedbuddy, in a group of seven divers. He ascendeddue to an unknown problem and seemed tobe fine at 40 fsw / 12 msw, but was later foundunconscious. Resuscitation efforts wereunsuccessful. The diver had a medical historythat was significant for multiple medical problems,including coronary artery disease,hypertension and elevated cholesterol. Thisdeath was most likely due to a cardiac event.Contributing factors/significant diagnosesincluded cardiomegaly, obesity, hypertensionand hypercholesterolemia.01-44 Experienced diver with asthma andheart disease made unwitnessed solo diveCause of Death: Cardiac dysrhythmia due tocoronary atherosclerosisThis 61-year-old male was a very experienceddiver with advanced open-water certification.His medical history was significant for hypertensionand asthma that were treated withmedication, including an inhaler. He made ashore entry dive alone in poor visibility andwas next seen floating on the surface approximatelyone hour later. The autopsy disclosedevidence of several natural disease processes,including hypertensive and atheroscleroticcoronary artery disease and an old myocardialinfarct. Even though the event was not witnessed,the dive profile and experience level ofthe diver led the medical examiner to correctlyconclude that this diver most likely died ofa cardiac event. Contributing factors/significantdiagnoses included hypertension, oldmyocardial infarction and asthma.Proximate Cause: Drowning /Cardiac01-29 Advanced open water student withcardiac disease made solo shore night dive,found with no mask or finsCause of Death: DrowningThis 49-year-old male was a student in anadvanced open-water certification course andhad 15 lifetime dives. He was making a shoreentry night dive and carried his mask and finsinto the surf. When the decedent’s dive buddyhad to return to the beach, the decedent continuedthe dive. No one saw the decedentagain until his body was recovered withouthis mask and fins. A cardiac event cannot becompletely excluded since the autopsyrevealed coronary artery disease.Contributing factor/significant diagnosisincluded coronary atherosclerosis.01-35 Experienced cave diver with heart diseasehad possible hypoxic breathing mixtureCause of Death: Drowning due to cardiacdysrhythmia and hypoxiaThis 45-year-old male was a very experienceddiver and certified cave diver. He had beenhospitalized a few weeks earlier with a severerespiratory infection and was advised not todive for at least six weeks. The decedent andhis dive buddy made an uneventful excursioninto a cave to 96 feet (29 meters) for 52 minutes.At the 20-foot (6-meter) stop, the diverlost consciousness and was brought to the surface.Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.The autopsy revealed evidence of cardiac disease,including coronary atherosclerosis andleft ventricular hypertrophy. The equipmentevaluation revealed that a tank, thought to beused by the decedent for a decompressionstop, might have held a hypoxic mixture. Thetank was empty according to the gauge, but a114DAN’s <strong>Report</strong> on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive Exploration: 2003 Edition
Page 1 and 2:
Report onDecompres
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Dedicated toDr. Peter B. BennettThe
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AcknowledgmentsData for the 2002 <s
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International DAN OfficesDAN Americ
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When divers have questions about th
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Flying After Diving (FAD) StudyIn 1
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In 2002, DAN trained six interns fr
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DAN Training ProgramsOxygen First A
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DAN members are also eligible for d
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DAN Diver Identification System (DI
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Instructors who don’t have access
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Of 522 reports submitted in 2001, 5
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2. Dive Injuries2.1 Injury Data Des
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Arterial Gas Embolism (AGE)• Symp
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The pre-existing medical problems o
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Figure 7 shows the number of self-r
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As shown on Figure 11, most diving
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As in previous years, the largest p
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Figure 19 shows number of days divi
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Figure 23 shows the maximum depth o
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2.4 Signs and Symptoms in Injured D
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Figure 29 shows symptoms reported b
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Fig 32Distribution ofcases by PSI.E
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Figure 35 shows the administration
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Figure 37 shows the type of recompr
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2.6 Therapeutic OutcomeFigure 40 sh
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Figure 43 shows that AGE was more l
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3. Dive FatalitiesDAN is not the pr
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Figure 49 shows the gender and cert
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Figure 53 shows the time of day at
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Figure 57 shows the distribution of
Page 63 and 64: Figure 61 shows the limited informa
Page 65 and 66: 4. Project DiveExplorationPDE is an
Page 67 and 68: Fig 65Cumulativenumber of PDEdives
Page 69 and 70: Table 10Number ofseries per diver.T
Page 71 and 72: Figure 69 illustrates the certifica
Page 73 and 74: 4.4 DivesMost PDE data (97 percent)
Page 75 and 76: 4.5 Dive SeriesPDE recorded 1,960 d
Page 77 and 78: The maximum depth of the dive serie
Page 79 and 80: The workload reported by divers in
Page 81 and 82: The pre-flight surface interval (PF
Page 83 and 84: Fig 88Percentageof dives bycertific
Page 85 and 86: Figure 90 shows the month in which
Page 87 and 88: All PDE divers were asked to report
Page 89 and 90: The incidence of DCS was different
Page 91 and 92: Figure 94 shows the proportion of m
Page 93 and 94: Fig 98Comparison ofdive purpose byp
Page 95 and 96: Figures 102 and 103 show how the po
Page 97 and 98: 6. Mixed-Gas DivingThis section off
Page 99 and 100: Figure 110 shows that injured diver
Page 101 and 102: GlossaryAGE — Arterial Gas Emboli
Page 103 and 104: Appendix A: Injury Case Rep
Page 105 and 106: During the second day of diving, th
Page 107 and 108: Case 6. Delayed Onset of Mild Neuro
Page 109 and 110: Case 9. One Diver Treated Twice in
Page 111 and 112: Appendix B: Fatality Case R
Page 113: Proximate Cause: Drowning / AirEmbo
Page 117 and 118: the water with the instructor and a
Page 119 and 120: 01-22 Public safety diver who was o
Page 121 and 122: dock. Fifteen minutes into the dive
Page 123 and 124: end of the dive, but seemed to be d
Page 125 and 126: 01-67 Inexperienced diver, diving s
Page 127 and 128: 01-61 Novice diver lost control of
Page 129 and 130: entry into a freshwater lake for a
Page 131 and 132: 2002 PublicationsBennett PB, Rostai
Page 133 and 134: Notes132DAN’s Report</str
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