Protocol for unconcious diver

[emmbee]

Fair enough, I agree, and you know I agree with practice, practice some more...

Except the "nugget of info" in this case is that the airway is shut during the clonic phase of the seizure, and it's not only meaningless, it's wrong (for what matters, from what I understand, it's not shut during the tonic phase either).

And except that any "pondering" would not be caused by what Dr Mitchell said (or me posting it), but by the training agencies who started this whole "you should raise the diver immediately except" thing, which is dubious.

Matthieu

[Stephen McMullan]

You are correct Matthieu but I just don't see it as a priority. Possibly not even top 10. Its just one small part of the picture. Thats based on experience working with trainees, being involved in tec diving trips and knowing divers 

[oakridge4]

Hi just read the thread through and enjoyed some of the good info discussed. Though I have to say it was a tad more colourful earlier, does anyone miss Frank ?

[paulo]

I did my Advance Nitrox course with Baza over the weekend in Portroe, well I will never complain about being cold on a dive again after spending 86 mins in the balmy 6.5 degrees of Portroe 

On the way home myself and Lorcan went through the usual "what did you think about ..." conversation. One of the things that had the banter going was what would you do with an unconscious diver. Would you hold him for the deco stops? Would you do his gas switches? Would you cut his stops short before sending him to the surface? Would you escort him to the surface etc etc.

We both agreed that it was one for the forum to discuss. What would you do if your buddy went unconscious at 40m with and without deco penalties?

[David Mellon]

Send him up and do your deco obligations no point having two casualtys on the dive boat.

there is always the chance while your trying to help your buddy and do your deco stop that something might go wrong and you will end up in trouble as well.

I think you have to be selfish and think of your self in such a situation if you happens.. that my take on it anyway...

[paulo]

playing devils advocate ......

And if ..... back on the boat he kicks the bucket. During the inquest the Doc says a couple of mins of deco would have given him a fighting chance given that he was already breathing during the rescue ........

how do you cope with the thoughts that you killed you best mate??

NOT PASSING ANY JUDGEMENT here just trying to get a reasoned debate

[Tom Brett]

I dont think that this is a clear question - I think one would have to look at the deco obligations and make the decision then
If the deco decisions were minor - and the potential of recovery of the buddy is high then I would look at heading to the surface, if otherwise well Dave is right

Tom

[baza]

I don’t think there is a right and wrong answer to this post. Personally, I think I’d give it my best attempt at bring them to the surface or a near as possible, doing as much deco as physically possible. I think it would be the only way I could sleep at night, knowing I did as much as I could of in that situation. It would take a good deal of effort, but it should be manageable. The way I see it, the main risk to you would be risk of an uncontrolled ascent. As for missing deco yourself, it’s a hard one to call to be honest. It really depends on how much we are talking about if the shit had really hit the fan…. A bit of a type 1 in that situation would be worth it if it meant my buddy was ok.

Situations like these are where good top side cover / support are critical. If you had support divers / top cover, you can just bring the diver up to meet the first support diver and they can bring them the rest of the way.   

I think bring someone up the shot would be the ideal choice if you were close enough. A harder situation would be if you are 50 m or more away from the shot, do you bring them back to the shot or go with them to the surface. Back at the shot, you would have other divers to help on the ascent / rescue. A free ascent would mean you are doing the rescue on your own mid-water….

If you just let someone fly from the bottom, they will likely be dead on the surface from either a burst lung / drowning. If they get to the surface alive, being inverted on the surface with no regulator for a few minutes until the boat sees them will mean they will drown. 
 
If we are talking about something like an oxtox / Inner ear bend, then I think shooting them directly to the surface is wrong. It is likely they will come around eventually on the ascent and will just need some help coming to the surface on their own.