Posted by tleemay on August 31, 2000 at 14:01:47:
In Reply to: My turn posted by seahunt on August 30, 2000 at 12:32:55:
seahunt wrote;
"Truth is, what is more tragic? To die in a diving
accident, to die of cancer or die in an auto
accident."
The are all tragic ways to die - especially when
it involves a member of your family (I know you
said to keep the family issue aside, but I couldn't
help). I suspect the more tragic of the three
the one that could have been prevented or at least
given a higher chance of survival, by having another
person along or others in the area in support of the
malady.
Let me try to show you my perspective of the
difference of the three situations you mention;
Driving a car, you get smacked head-on like those three
people in the Honda car last night on the 105 FWY.
Someone more than likely will witness the event and
call for police/paramedics. The survial of the car's
occupants hinge on the response time of rescue personnel.
If no sees the accident or witnesses the aftermath,
they could have been left in the wreck to die, if
not from the initial inpact and massive trauma,
from shock and in/external bleeding to death - no
one would have been able to save them. And please, I
don't want to hear the argument about what would have
happened if it happened on a deserted highway - someone
would most certainly have come by in a few hours. If
not, well... a few hours help is better than none at all
in this scenario if they are still alive and breathing.
You lie in bed suffering from cancer. Had the way
you live cause the disease in the first place, perhaps.
But that's no revellant for this discussion.
You are being attended to in the first person by a care
giver and support staff. You might be being treated,
if posssible, with remission as the probable goal.
Point is that someone is there helping you to try
and overcome the disease or at least prolong your life
until which time it can be prolonged no more -
and you eventually die as it were. Someone was there
to make the attempt at saving your life.
In a SCUBA diving accident when situations go
tragically bad, they are prettty much done and
over with. One inhalation of water is all it
usually takes. One heart attack or stroke at
depth can do it. You could be face down on the
bottom with a full tank of air unconscience as
long as you air supply lasts. It could be much
longer than that, perhaps hours and hours until
someone realizes you are missing and a search is
conducted. Even more hours could pass until they
finally find you underwater. Your air ran out
long ago - you died quickly afterwards. If you
were solo diving, there was no one there to see
you are having a problem, no one there to look to
should you feel something was wrong, no one there
to help get you to the surface affording the better
chance that you will survive. No one to call
rescue personnel that you need medical attention.
I am not trying to bolster one's personal
decision one way or the other of life or death
when it comes to solo diving. My point is only
that a diver has a much greater chance of survival
with a buddy along... regardless of what the
problem was.
And I don't automatically see photographers and
hunter diving solo as a exception to the thought.
Both camps see eye to eye on the success of their
activities based on doing it without anyone else
around. I have seen hunting teams underwater (note:
not freedivers - although I did hear about a shallow
water blackout death this past weekend) come back
with some exceptional hooks and bags full of quality
game. In fact, I see buddy teams out performing
solo divers when nabbing bugs. When I hunt, I have
a buddy near by.I have also seen some mighty fine
pictures taken by photogs who always dive with a
buddy... it works well when your buddy is taking
shots too. It isn't ideal for everyone, but people
do it. We had a well experienced husband/wife photo
team on the boat last weekend all decked out with
their Nikonos 5 and EOS housing setups that were
totally jazzed of the shots they took on their
dives. It can be done successfully and people are
doing it.