CAYMAN ISLANDS (20 June 2007) -- Air bubbles in the blood vessels of a scuba diver's brain showed that she had come to the surface too quickly, a Coroner's Jury heard on 31 May. After presentation of all the evidence, the jury found that Susan Annette Gallia died by misadventure on 3 March 2006. The physical cause of death was a combination of drowning and the air embolism due to her fast ascent. Ms Gallia, 52, who resided in Austin, Texas was visiting Cayman with friends. No witness could say why she made the rapid ascent from a depth of about 65 feet. Earlier in the dive, at Trinity Caves, she and her buddy went with a group down to about 100 feet. That depth would have required a decompression stop on the way up, in addition to controlled ascent. Government pathologist Dr. John Heidingsfelder said one possibility for Ms Gallia's uncontrolled ascent was panic due to an unknown cause. He described her as 5'11" and weighing about 220 pounds. His examination had shown a moderately blocked artery, which could have caused a cardiac problem. "I cannot say that she did not have chest pain that caused her to panic," he told the court. If panic occurs, there is a loss of reasoning ability that can cause a diver to make an uncontrolled ascent. The rapid ascent can result in air within the blood stream. Dr. John ran a carbon monoxide test to see if her air supply had been contaminated, but that possibility was ruled out. The police officer investigating the matter took the dive equipment to the Department of Environment for checking. Everything was in good condition. Evidence of the dive itself came from Mr. Richard Salwen, who said he and his wife had been coming to Cayman since 1989. Ms Gallia had been coming since 1997–98. All three were certified divers. He said he and Ms Gallia had been dive buddies 40 or 50 times and were familiar with each other's dive style. They had dived on 28 February and 1 March, with nothing remarkable happening. They had snorkelled on 2 March. On the day of incident they and two other people joined a group diving with Red Sail Sports. Mr. Salwen said they had dived Trinity Caves on the West Wall at least once before. After descending to about 100 feet they began a slow spiralling ascent around the cathedral pinnacle that abuts the main structure of the Wall. Ms Gallia was slightly above and ahead of him, as was their custom. | | At about 65 feet she looked back at him, as was normal. She would usually do this once each minute. He signalled OK and she returned the signal. Mr. Salwen said he was using an underwater camera and turned away to take a picture. When he turned back again, perhaps 20 or 25 seconds later, he did not see Ms Gallia. He looked around and then up and saw her ascending rapidly. He said he did not go up after her rapidly because that would have given the dive masters two emergencies to deal with. Instead, he went to the dive leader and pointed. The dive leader did an emergency ascent and towed Ms Gallia to the dive boat. Mr. Salwen's sister, who is from New York, said in her statement that she had met Ms Gallia four days before the incident. She knew Ms Gallia had a problem with bipolar disorder and was on medication. While waiting for the dive boat, the two women had talked about how well she was doing with her medication and Ms Gallia did not seem depressed. This witness said she was at about 60 feet when she saw bubbles over a coral head. All of a sudden Ms Gallia came up from the coral and she was going straight up fairly fast. When she got to 15 feet, she did not stop. She said Stuart the dive master took off after her. Ms Salwen's dive buddy, also from New York, said Ms Gallia was happy to be in Cayman. She was happy on the way to the dive site and did not complain of pain or anything. Queen's Coroner Nova Hall ruled out suicide as a potential verdict, telling the jury there was no evidence to support it. An extract from the police log indicated that the dive boat brought the woman to West Bay Public Beach while a doctor and nurse on board were administering CPR. She was brought to the hospital with CPR continuing, but was pronounced dead 11 minutes after arrival. SOURCE - Caymanian CompassSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
