Dive Magazine – Winter 2023
English | 70 pages | pdf | 44.98 MBMark ‘Crowley’ Russell’s report on a diving instructor charged with gross negligence manslaughter (Page 15) makes for harrowing reading. For Nigel Craig and his wife, Della, it was traumatic. Four years after a tragic accident and after being cleared of responsibility by the Health and Safety Executive, Nigel received a letter out of the blue telling him he was going to be prosecuted for manslaughter. Stunned and seared, he luckily received first-rate legal support and left court with a not guilty verdict. The story of this, at times bizarre prosecution, would be worthy of a true-crime podcast. However, the reason we feel it is vital to tell Nigel’s story is not the courtroom drama, but what leading medical experts believe is the most likely cause of the death that led to the trial: Immersion Pulmonary Oedema (IPO). Only in recent years has this often fatal condition been recognised as a danger to divers and possibly the largest single cause of diving deaths. BS.AC has already included information about IPO and the link with high blood pressure in its entry-level course. We are calling on all diver training
agencies to :follow suit. It is vital that inforrnation about this serious risk to the health of divers is more widely disseminated.
Graeme Gourlay, Publisher – [email protected]
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