Coroner's Finding: CAMPBELL Deborah Christine
Deceased
Deborah Christine Campbell
Demographics
42y, female
Date of death
2002-03-17
Finding date
2004-04-06
Cause of death
saltwater drowning
AI-generated summary
Deborah Campbell, aged 42, died from saltwater drowning while scuba diving at Nora Creina, South Australia. She was obese, physically unfit, and had not undergone proper diving medical evaluation. Contributing factors included obesity, poor cardiovascular fitness, inappropriately heavy weight belt (18kg instead of 10-12kg), inexperience, fatigue from surface swimming, oesophageal reflux, and back problems. She became exhausted during the surface swim to Centre Rock, struggled to maintain buoyancy despite additional weights, and after brief diving, indicated needing rest. Waves forced her against rocks; she aspirated water, developed laryngeal spasm, lost consciousness, and could not be resuscitated despite immediate bystander CPR and ambulance attendance. The coroner found all such diving deaths preventable through proper medical screening by diving medicine practitioners and regular fitness assessments.
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Specialties
Error types
Clinical conditions
Procedures
Contributing factors
- obesity
- poor cardiovascular fitness
- inexperience
- excessive fatigue from surface swimming
- inappropriately heavy weight belt (18kg)
- oesophageal reflux
- back problems
- lack of proper pre-dive medical examination
- aspiration of saltwater
- laryngeal spasm
- tight wetsuit exacerbating reflux
Coroner's recommendations
- All persons engaged in recreational underwater diving should undergo examination by a registered general medical practitioner trained in hyperbaric medicine on a regular basis, preferably annually but not less frequently than every two years
- Medical practitioners should decline to conduct such examinations unless they are appropriately qualified to do so
- Medical practitioners conducting such examinations should, if they are not the subject's regular medical practitioner, require the subject to produce a referral letter detailing the subject's medical history as far as it is known
- Medical practitioners conducting such examinations should warn the subject that diving is a potentially lethal activity if undertaken by a person with certain medical conditions, and that absolute honesty in providing background medical history is called for
- If there is any doubt about the subject's health, the medical practitioner should arrange such follow-up tests as chest X-rays, hypertonic saline tests, or whatever else may be indicated, before passing the subject as fit to dive. Any doubt should be resolved against passing the subject as fit, until such follow-up tests demonstrate fitness to dive
- The recreational diving industry should conduct an awareness campaign among its member organisations and the diving public about the dangers of diving with certain medical conditions, the need for regular medical examinations at least every two years, the need for absolute honesty during such examinations, and the responsibility a diver has both personally and to his or her diving colleagues to ensure that he or she is fit to dive
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