From: davew@hp-ptp.ptp.hp.com (Dave Waller)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Details on student death at Foothill College
Date: 28 Jul 92 18:05:44 GMT
Organization: HP Pacific Technology Park - Sunnyvale, Ca.

Here are three articles that appeard in the San Jose Mercury News about 
the student diver who died during a training session in the pool.

A personal comment: Lee Jones, an instructor who posts to rec.scuba, 
first brought this incident to our attention, and noted that he had 
previously refused to accept this individual as a student because the 
deceased was an insulin dependant diabetic.

Lee was later lambasted by another reader who is a diabetic and a 
certified diver, stridently accused of irresponsible representation 
regarding this topic.

For my own part, I agree with Lee, and will not certify an insulin 
dependant diabetic for SCUBA diving. The tragic incident here simply 
reinforces my reluctance to do so, as the risks are simply too great. I 
will elaborate further on the topic in a response to this basenote, if 
you are interested.

On with the transcription. These three articles are copied without 
permission.

Dave Waller
YMCA Instructor

-------------------------

STUDENT STUCK IN POOL DURING SCUBA LESSON DIES

A Foothill College student hospitalized after being stuck at the bottom 
of a campus pool for more than two minutes during a SCUBA lesson has 
died.

Micael Powell, 19, of Palo Alto, was pronounced dead at 8:45 a.m. 
Wednesday at El Camino Hospital, spokewoman Jean Altman said.

Powell, a beginner wearing diving equipment, was unable to make it to 
the surface of the water in the Monday evening accident, which occurred 
in the presence of seven instructors and 18 other people attending the 
diving lesson.

College representatives say the drowning was probably accidental, but 
campus police cheif Tom Conom is interviewing witnesses, including lead 
instructor Hank Kettle, to determine possible responsibility.

-------------------------

DEATH OF DIVING STUDENT STILL BEING INVESTIGATED

Michael Powell and his father had planned to learn SCUBA diving together 
in a summer evening class at Foothill College. They had completed two 
sessions on diving safety and basic techniques.

But during the third class on Monday, as students began to leave the 
shallow end of the pool and strip off their SCUBA gear, something
happened to 19-year-old Michael.

The next time James Powell saw his son, and assistant instructor was 
pulling the young man's limp body from the bottom of the pool.

The Palo Alto man watched from a bench as rescuers used cardiopulomonary 
resuscitation to try and restart his son's heart. He followed his son's 
ambulance to El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, where Michael Powell 
was pronounced dead 36 hours later.

What caused Powell to slip back underwater and remain there unnoticed 
for several minutes was still being pieced together Friday by the chief 
of the small Foothill College police department, the Santa Clara County 
Coroner's office and Hank Ketels, the veteran instructor of the popular 
SCUBA class.

Foothill College Police Chief Tom Conom's final report on the matter is 
expected to be released next week.

Information uncovered since the drowning appears to contradict earlier 
news reports that Powell had been abandoned by his "buddy" (the class 
member he was paired with), and instructors at the bottom of the pool.

"We're so careful, and we can't figure out what happened," said Richard 
Herbert, 20, the assistant instructor who discovered Powell and dived to 
rescue him.

When Michael Powell signed up for the six-week course, he submitted a 
doctor's note certifying that he was physically qualified for the rigors 
of diving, Conom said. Powell was diagnosed was diabetic four years ago 
and took insulin injections twice daily, according to the coroner's 
report.

In the past, he had experienced episodes of hypoglycemia, in which his 
blood sugar level had dropped as low as 40 milligrams per deciliter, but 
these had been easily reversed by eating sweets, according to the 
report. Hypoglycemia can cause symptoms ranging from weakness and 
headaches to faintness and coma.

Monday, the class had just finished its second session using SCUBA 
equipment, practicing basic breathing techniques and swimming with 
weight belts and buoyancy vests. Ketels told students to get out of the 
pool, drop their SCUBA equipment and then return for a lesson on 
performing surface rescues, Herbert said.

-------------------------

POLICE FOCUS ON LOW BLOOD SUGAR IN P.A. DIVING STUDENT'S DEATH

A "sudden or disabling" event -- possibly a hypoglycemic attack -- 
apparently was responsible for the drowning of 19-year-old Michael 
Powell last week during a SCUBA class at Foothill College, Foothill 
Police Cheif Tom Conom concluded Monday.

In a 34-page report released to the press, Conom said he had found no 
evidence of criminal misconduct or negligence. Instead, his report 
centered on Powell's blood-sugar level, an issue because the young Palo 
Alto man suffered from diabetes.

A hypoglycemic attack occurs when the body's level of blood sugar is too 
low, an event sometimes experienced by diabetics who go into insulin 
shock.

As Powell was rushed to El Camino Hospital, paramedics tested his 
blood-sugar level and found it in the lower range of normal. But Conom 
said Powell was given medication that might have boosted that level.

Noting that Powell was spotted at the side of the pool at the end of a 
snorkeling exercise, Conom said the attack apparently hit as he held 
onto the ladder or the side.

"There was no evidence of a struggle to remain afloat," Conom wrote. 
"Powell appears to have gone to the bottom of the pool and followed a 
descending slope to the point he came to rest."

The police chief said Powell was not spotted immediately because of the 
agitation in the water from a water-polo game -- and because the 
foot-wide black lines at the bottom made it difficult to see a person in 
a black wetsuit. Witnesses said he was on the bottom six to 10 minutes.

While Conom absolved teachers and students of blame, his report 
suggested their attention was distracted in the crucial moments when 
Powell disappeared.

The report says Powell's group of divers had completed swimming two laps 
around the shallow section of the pool 20 minutes before the incident. 
One of the instructors reported that Powell looked fatigued and had 
trouble pulling his weight belt up.

The group was ordered to snorkel across the pool, followed by two 
teaching assistants, Kimberly Chase and Gretchen Schroeder.

Chase told police that she saw Powell make it to the side and asked him 
if he needed any help. "I'm OK," she quoted him as saying as he removed 
his fins.

The report says that Schroeder, however, lost her fin at the bottom of 
the pool. While she was attempting to retrieve it, Chase turned her 
attention to her [sic; presumably they mean Schroeder here, but I'm not 
sure -dw]. Both assistants told police they thought Powell had left the 
pool.

But as the next exercise began, the two teaching assistants noticed him 
missing. A third assistant, Richard Herbert, snorkeled into the deep 
end, spotted him on the bottom, and yelled for help.

Dave Waller
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Workstation Systems Division
Sunnyvale VAB Consulting
(408) 746-5324
Newsgroups: rec.scuba