Al Reviews Why a Minor Error on a Medical Form can Lead to Disaster
by Al Hornsby, owner, Al Hornsby Productions, Singapore
Al is regarded as one of the industry’s most experienced risk management litigation executives.
IN WRITING THIS COLUMN, most of the scenarios I end up describing come out of some of the worst accidents (and lawsuits) that I can recall from my many years of involvement with creating, enforcing, and defending the dive standards and practices adopted and utilized by the industry, both at PADI and as a longtime founding board member of the Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC).
We can all agree that scuba diving is an exhilarating activity that requires both knowledge and skill to ensure safety for divers and their diving companions underwater. Two terms frequently encountered in the diving community are certification and qualification. While they may seem interchangeable, they represent distinct concepts with important implications for diver safety.
Throughout, the critical role played by the thoughtful, informed creation – and broad usage of dive standards and practices has been paramount, and the value to dive safety immeasurable. And, conversely, there is no debate that historically many of the most tragic and indefensible dive accidents have occurred when standards have been ignored. And, even worse, the reasoning (or lack thereof) for the violations has so often been completely senseless and unnecessary.
One such incident that comes to mind occurred in Hawaii, not that many years ago. It involved an established, busy dive center, which also was well-regarded for being a valuable launching point for military vets becoming dive instructors. In this particular incident, a vacationing father and college-aged son had always wanted to try diving and finally had their chance, with the mom accompanying but not diving herself.
At the dive center before the dive, the intro students filled out their paperwork, including their medical history forms. The father ticked the history of heart problems item, then gave the form to the instructor, who correctly indicated that this medical issue would not allow the man to dive without a doctor’s approval. After going into the store to begin the son’s gear setup, the instructor came out to find the form on the table, with the heart problems item scratched out; the man said that he “had made a mistake.”
Unfortunately, the instructor ignored the obvious and agreed to let the man proceed with the dive.
The dive site was a popular, well-suited place for intros, with no surf and protected from the prevailing winds by Oahu’s interior mountains. After the briefing, the divers were kitted up, then followed the instructor out through the calm, clear water to learn the water skills. However, rather than stopping in the shallows (“in water shallow enough in which to stand”), the instructor took them a bit farther, to an area about 8 feet deep, where they submerged and were taught the basic skills.
At some point, the father became anxious and indicated he needed to ascend. Leaving the son on the bottom alone, the instructor took the father to the surface, where they talked “for a few minutes,” and the instructor then began swimming with the gentleman toward shore. The son, watching from below, followed them, and at some point noticed that his father had slumped and was being towed by the instructor.
The man’s wife, on the beach near the water’s edge, soon realized it was her husband being towed, and had additional fear from not knowing where her son was, who was following but still submerged and out of sight.
In the lawsuit that followed, all these elements came together to create a theory of liability that was difficult and expensive to defend against. The obvious standards violations were easily argued as negligent conduct, leaving the medical cause of the death itself, which took place in plain view of both the son and the wife, the only issue up for debate. Regardless of the outcome of the litigation, the end result was tragic and heart-rending for the family. That the instructor was a military vet who had served his country and had seen diving as a future way forward, yet immediately lost that opportunity, was another loss in itself.
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