Posted by Ken Kurtis on November 19, 2000 at 13:11:02:
In Reply to: Re: Florida scuba fatality. posted by AADIVER on November 19, 2000 at 12:14:40:
(Frank Framer posted, about this fatality) The buddy system strikes again.
The buddy system may not have saved her in this case, but surely, Frank, you can't be alleging that the buddy system KILLED her? (Seems to me like a stretch, if you are.)
With all the myriad opinions expressed about buddy vs. solo vs. "independent", no one has EVER said that the buddy system will make you bullet-proof. (And I'm sure you're not arguing that with 30 dives under her belt and two years out of the water she would have been safer as a solo or independent diver, so I'm a little lost on what your point was in making your comment.)
Let's look at the report that you copied for us (and thank you, BTW):
"Her equipment became caught on the wreck and she panicked, according to her dive buddy, and she pulled off her mask and regulator. The other diver brought her to the surface, but she was dead by the time she completed her ascent."
Sounds like her buddy responded right away. No buddy, regardless of level of experience, can (IMO) prevent a panicky diver from ripping off their mask, let alone force a reg back into the mouth of someone who's spit it out and is hell-bent on streaking for the surface.
"A police officer and an Emergency Medical Technician (part of the dive group) were aboard the dive boat and immediately started performing CPR, but they could not revive the lifeless woman."
So the buddy got her to the boat and they began performing CPR right away, giving her the best possible chance to survive. But, as we all know, with CPR you're not always successful.
"Hart was transported to the Broward Medical Examiner's office where an autopsy will be performed to officially establish the cause of death, believed to be accidental drowning."
I think that most of us would say the cause of death was panic/doing-a-dive-beyond-her-comfort-level and that that resulted in drowning. May sound like semantics, but again points back to what we've discussed before, that judgment on choosing a dive that you're compentent and comfortable to make is an incredibly important decision for every diver to make prior to every dive.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.