Recreational Diving
Accidents

CAUSES OF RECREATIONAL DIVING INJURIES

Our background with diving injuries in the Gulf of Mexico, inland and worldwide has our team of experienced Louisiana diving accident lawyers positioned to provide expert representation on the recreational diving accidents that can occur.

These can happen for many reasons, including:

• Improper training for you or your instructors – Negligence can be found if the dive company has not informed you how to properly use the diving equipment. It can also be found if the dive instructors have not been properly trained in teaching others for a safe dive.
• Errors in judgment by the vessel’s captain, dive supervisor, other crew members or any other involved party.
• Failure to observe the appropriate safety measures and respond effectively to any complications that arise before or after a dive.
• Operating outside dive limits, problems with the calculation of decompression and other breathing-related matters.
• Problems with gas mixtures and breathing apparatus, including tanks, rebreathers and tubes that can lead to decompression sickness – also known as “the bends.”
• Manufacturing defects or negligent maintenance of dive equipment, including contaminated breathing gases, which can be deadly underwater.
• If you are using a dive company’s equipment, they are responsible for using reasonable care in maintaining their diving equipment and replacing equipment that is no longer safe for underwater use.
• Failure of other divers or crew members to properly assess divers and perform the neurological evaluations following a dive outside the no-decompression limits or any dive where a diver reports symptoms of decompression sickness.
• These tests have been designed to determine the early recognition of whether the diver’s central nervous system has been damaged.
• If you are an inexperienced diver, you will likely allow the dive operator or diver instructor determine if the water conditions are safe.
• Unsafe water conditions could lead to injury, and weather that might not be dangerous to the vessel could be dangerous to the diver. If you suffer injuries as a result, the dive company could be liable.

WHEN DIVING INJURIES HAPPEN, CALL OUR LAWYERS

If you are taking your first dive on a vacation, or even if SCUBA diving is a longtime hobby, you likely have to depend on the expertise of a more experienced diver with a dive shop or charter boat whenever you go below the surface of the water, and you are putting your welfare in their hands.

While recreational diving is fun, it also comes with many important responsibilities, and often many people working together. When injuries happen because of the negligence of others, those individuals may be liable for your losses. Our Louisiana diving accident lawyers can help.

EXPERIENCED RECREATIONAL DIVING LAWYERS

If you or a loved one has been injured in a recreational diving accident due to the negligence of another, contact the Louisiana diving accident lawyers of Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards LLC for a free consultation to discuss the circum.

Our experienced attorneys will conduct a thorough investigation of the events leading to the injuries. We will uncover all of the evidence that shows negligence to aggressively defend your rights and pursue compensation on your behalf.

It is important in diving accidents to begin building your case as soon as possible.

COMMON SCUBA DIVING INJURIES

Diving injuries can often be very serious in nature. Common recreational diving injuries can include:

• Asphyxia or Suffocation
• The Bends
• Brain and Neurological Injuries
• Decompression Illness (DCI) – Although diving injuries can occur after being exposed to increased pressure in caissons or hyperbaric chambers, the underwater environment is the most common cause, such as a too-rapid ascent or descent, resulting in pressurization injuries.
  Bubbles in the blood or body tissue after being exposed to higher than normal pressure was originally termed “the bends” or “Caisson Disease.” It was later called “decompression sickness” (DCS). Collectively, they are often referred to as DCI.
• Hyperbolic Injuries
• Hypoxia
• Near Drowning – A condition involving unconsciousness or water inhalation and can lead to serious secondary complications, including death, after the event.
• Secondary Drowning – A non-medical term, but a condition that can begin up to 24 hours after a near-drowning incident when water gets in the lungs, and it may lead to difficulty breathing or death.
• Salt-Water Aspiration Syndrome – A reaction to salt in the lungs due to a faulty demand valve in the SCUBA system.
• Carbon Monoxide or Carbon Dioxide Poisoning
• Emphysema or lipiod pneumonia caused by inhaling oil mist.

NOVICE DIVERS ON VACATION OFTEN AREN’T PREPARED

There are hazards in enjoying this sport. Often as part of a vacation, at a resort or on a cruise, novice divers are given very little training and education.

If you are a recreational diver who suffered an injury while diving, you could have a personal injury claim against the dive sponsor, the diving instructor, the vacation resort or cruise ship operator, or another party.

HELPING INJURED PEOPLE ACROSS LOUISIANA

Whatever the cause of a recreational diving accident you were involved in, our Louisiana diving accident lawyers are here to help you explore your legal options.

We also represent many commercial, inland, technical and underwater construction divers working in maintenance, repair and salvage operations, particularly in the oil & gas and offshore industry.

Injured working divers often quality for seaman status under the Jones Act, and will qualify for maintenance and cure benefits, in addition to maritime negligence and unseaworthiness claims.

Our dedicated trial attorneys have helped people from communities across Louisiana, including in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia and New Orleans.

To schedule a free consultation, call us today from anywhere in the state. Make the Wright Call. Call 337-291-HURT.