My wife and I just returned from Cozumel and had a good trip with good weather and good diving. The point here is something that happened on arrival to hotel while eating lunch.......... I am an anesthesiologist.
A small dive boat (not from my resort) pulls up quickly to the dock and i see people doing CPR on a person on floor of boat. I go over to potentially help and the paramedics that had just arrived asked me to help them. They were doing totally ineffective chest compressions (like television compressions, lots of movement, but chest going down maybe a centimeter at best. They were ventilating the person by mask, but with no oxygen. The same thing had gone on for 15 minutes while boat on open water.
So, I ask for oxygen and they get the hidden bottle from the boat that was there all the time and not being used. I show the paramedic correct way to do the compressions. I then ask fro equipment to intubate person (breathing tube), and they have none. I ask for IV supplies and emergency drugs and they have none. To shorten story, 25 year old healthy woman, died right there.
I am sure she was savable on the water as they got her out of water (apparently) very quickly. Potentially savable at the dock with me. She was the girlfriend of a diver and she was snorkeling with a vest in choppy waterand drowned. I also was told a questionable swimmer.
Very bad situation. Oxygen on boat was not used. Land paramedics poorly trained and ill-equiped. Be careful out there.
mark
A small dive boat (not from my resort) pulls up quickly to the dock and i see people doing CPR on a person on floor of boat. I go over to potentially help and the paramedics that had just arrived asked me to help them. They were doing totally ineffective chest compressions (like television compressions, lots of movement, but chest going down maybe a centimeter at best. They were ventilating the person by mask, but with no oxygen. The same thing had gone on for 15 minutes while boat on open water.
So, I ask for oxygen and they get the hidden bottle from the boat that was there all the time and not being used. I show the paramedic correct way to do the compressions. I then ask fro equipment to intubate person (breathing tube), and they have none. I ask for IV supplies and emergency drugs and they have none. To shorten story, 25 year old healthy woman, died right there.
I am sure she was savable on the water as they got her out of water (apparently) very quickly. Potentially savable at the dock with me. She was the girlfriend of a diver and she was snorkeling with a vest in choppy waterand drowned. I also was told a questionable swimmer.
Very bad situation. Oxygen on boat was not used. Land paramedics poorly trained and ill-equiped. Be careful out there.
mark
