South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

A 58-year-old woman died recently during a scuba trip on a private boat. The Palm Beach County Fire Rescue responded to the report at about 10 a.m. off the Boynton Inlet.

The call to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office reported that a boat was bringing the unconscious woman to shore. She was seen by medical responders and transported to the Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach. She later died at the hospital, according to The Palm Beach Post. The cause of death has not yet been determined by the Medical Examiner's Office.

Our Boca Raton personal injury attorneys understand that scuba diving is a popular activity for both residents and tourists. If you don't have your own boat or scuba diving equipment and will be venturing out with a scuba operator, remember to do your research. Scuba companies have an obligation to keep participants safe. They're responsible to researching weather conditions, ensuring safe rental equipment and ensuring that employed divers have the proper certification.

Scuba diving is a fun and exciting activity and everyone is urged to try. Florida is the perfect place to suit up and dip in. There are a number of Fort Lauderdale Dive Shops that offer customers a full range of equipment, tours, lessons and supervised dives. Future divers are asked to research potential dive companies thoroughly to determine which can best help to reduce your risks of a Fort Lauderdale scuba diving accident.

A recent report focusing on common causes of Open-Circuit Recreational Diving Fatalities analyzed nearly 950 recreational diving deaths that occurred between 1992 and 2003. The top causes for these fatal accidents are listed below.

Top causes of scuba diving accident fatalities:

-Drowning: 33 percent of fatalities.

-Arterial Gas Embolism: This is when respiratory gases expand during ascent. This occurrence accounted for 29 percent of deaths.

-Cardiac Incident: This is a common term for a heart attack or a stroke and accounted for about 26 percent of scuba diving deaths.

-Trauma: Trauma caused by an injury sustained while diving accounted for 5 percent of deaths.

-DCS: This term refers to decompression sickness or illness and represented nearly 3 percent of all scuba diving fatalities.

-Loss of consciousness: Oftentimes the loss of consciousness cannot be explained while diving, but makes up nearly 3 percent of these fatalities.

-Inappropriate Gas: This occurrence happens when an incorrect gas mix causes a death. This accounted for 2 percent of all fatalities.

Tips to get ready for your venture out to explore the underwater world off our Florida coastline:

-Speak with a doctor to make sure that your heart is in good condition.

-Train. Get your body into shape by doing cardiovascular aerobic exercises 5 to 7 times a week. You can try walking, biking, or jogging. If you're inside a gym, try using an elliptical, a treadmill or a stationary bike.

-Remember, you're not supposed to hold your breath while you're scuba diving. That's the golden rule! Practice steady breaths.

-Keep an eye on your air pressure. The rule of thumb says that you should surface when your tank has 500 pounds of air.

-Make sure that you're equipped with the necessary SCUBA, snorkeling equipment and instruction.

-Plan out your dive. Make sure your figure out exactly how long and where you'll be diving. Consider the direction of the current when planning.

-Never scuba dive alone!

-Take a course and memorize the functions of decompression stops, dive flags, precautionary steps and what to do if your equipment malfunctions.