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#768
DCS Incidents with Public Safety Divers
Alphaflag05 - 9/21/2008 6:35 PM
Category: Health & Safety
Replies: 4



PSD’s:


I am doing a presentation on, "Pressure related injuries, recognition, and pre-hospital care for P.S.D.’s." 


I would like to present as many ’real-life’ incidents involving DCS involving rescue teams. There’s not alot out there- unless there is a fatality involved. Any info would be greatly appreciated.


-Mike
#93
Brass_Hat13 - 9/22/2008 2:44 AM


As far as DCS for rescue diving, the closest story I have is from a couple years ago.


We were doing some husbandry jobs on a group of ships carrying marines back from the gulf back in the beginning of ’04. Most of the guys had spent well over 4+ hours a day in the water for a couple days in a row.


We were on our way out to one of the ships in our small boat to remove a patch, when we received a call on the radio that there was a person trapped in a tank. Come to find out, an M1A1 Abrams Tank had rolled of an LCAC( landing craft air cushion) into about 100 fsw in the middle of the harbor.


By the time we really realized what was going on we had scrambled our dive gear together and were ready to get wet. We located the LCAC who had already dropped a marker bouy.


We splashed our diver who had close to 8-10 hours of BT shallower than 40 fsw over the previous 2 days. He made a dive to around 80-100 fsw for around 15 min, searching for the tank.


Later after surfacing he complained of joint pain, but was unsure do to working a scrubber for the last couple days. A neuro was conducted and we ended up treating him for DCS. He had full relief after treatment.


Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions, please ask.
#768
Subscribed
Alphaflag05 - 9/22/2008 8:28 AM
Good info- If anything the unknown over ’prior work’ or ’current dive’ as to the suspect of the pain is good knowledge- Did the pain subside immediately upon recompression, or was gone by the end of the treatment?
#93
Brass_Hat13 - 9/23/2008 11:03 AM


Its been over 4 years since the incident, so I’m not positive. All I remember is that he had full relief by the end of the treatment.


I’ve got dozens of DCS and AGE related stories from working the chamber in Guam, but pretty much all of it is civilian diving casualties. Sorry couldn’t help more.
#93
Brass_Hat13 - 9/23/2008 11:05 AM
Maybe another good point to hit on is the affects of alchohol consumption, dehydration, or diving in cold water.