Drowning Victim May Not Appear to be Actually Drowning

[Bamby]

Saw and read this posted on another forum, and knowing many members here have children and may boat with adults who may not be able to swim I thought it was worth repeating / posting here also.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know – from fifty feet away – what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.

2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

* Head low in the water, mouth at water level
* Head tilted back with mouth open
* Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
* Eyes closed
* Hair over forehead or eyes
* Not using legs – Vertical
* Hyperventilating or gasping
* Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
* Trying to roll over on the back
* Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Source: http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

[tuned]

Rock on, Bamby. Excellent article.

It has been twenty years since I took a lifesaving course. They never once mentioned any of this. Obviously modern research is starting to shift some thinking, including mine.

[timmac]

Thanks, Great Post..

[chill'nthemost]

That, without a doubt is the best post I've seen on this forum (and that's considering laketime's ) 3 years ago, on the last float of the summer we witness a bizarre accident. I had a skiff cut in front of us on the way home. I was just ready to get really pissed, when I realized the pilot had been throw overboard in front of our boat. It was a rare time when I was 100% sober, thankfully. Boating and being over a .08, is not only stupid, it's dangerous ( yes, I've done some very stupid things.....just been lucky). Had I not been quick enough to hit natural, I would have ran right over the pilot. Who knows what could have happened to him. The skiff (owned by the local houseboat rental co.) kept on going at full throttle. It headed back to the houseboat he'd just checked on about 1000 yards away. It made a large circle. I was hoping to hear it crash on the beach, but it came into vision, it was circling around back toward the houseboat. We watched in horror as the skiff hit the houseboat. It hit with so much force it went through the exterior wall, and pushed out the interior wall. There were 17 people on board. Fortunately a few seen the boat heading for them without a pilot and warned the others. When the boat ran out of force, it slide back into the lake. The throttle was still engaged, but now at about 1000 RPMS. We had to chase the boat and my brother in-law had to "bull dog" the skiff. After that, we tied the skiff up and towed it to the boathouse office. The pilot told us it was the second time the same skiff had thrown a pilot. He said someone a season prior had both legs broken when the steering locked. The kid was screaming when we picked him out of the water,"the steering locked". Unbelievably, no one was seriously hurt. I guess my point is, you never know how a day of fun might end up. Better to be prepared. Thanks for the info. Hope we never need it

[GXPWeasel]

Great post Bamby.

I forwarded this on at work to everyone who has or is around small kids or frequents the swimming pools and lakes. Very good info. Thank you.

[wed]

Wow! Great post. Years ago we had some youth over from church to swim in our pool. There was one girl who did not swim well but had stayed in the shallow end. She got distracted and moved into the area where the bottom began to slope to the deep end. There was no noise, no splashing, just the panick in her eyes as she looked up at me. I was so glad I was paying attention as most of the other children had gotten out and the focus was on another area of the yard. It happened really fast.

Thanks for the reminder.

[JohnO]

Thank You. One of those things we don't like to think about but we must think about.

I've got a nine year old daughter. She ALWAYS wears a life jacket when the boat is moving or when she is in the water. She's actually a pretty good swimmer. But I'm not good enough to help her if she gets in trouble. Therefore the jacket stays on.

I printed this off and will be sending it also to my email list.

[Snider4]

Thanks Bamby, great info!

[DWill3332]

Great post. I hope I never have to react to such behavior, but it is good information to have around the pool and the boat. Thanks for sharing it here.

Additional Comment: I copied and pasted this into an email to others who have children and/or boats and/or pools. This is one of those emails worth forwarding to as many folks as you can.

[JohnO]

I hadn't seen this bumped yet this year (or last. my bad) so since we are at the start of a new season.

Read and learn!

[JohnO]

Also see www.drownproofing.com

[gramps]

Good post and info for everyone.

[HandymanHerb]

That's why I keep a line on the throwable I sit on at the helm, I can throw it to them and pull them in, I don't have to look for anything in case someone gets in trouble, I just have to stand up and throw it to them.

Even if they can't grab it and you have to dive in after them, then you can use the rope to pull you both back to the toon, also if I am out with just the dog, the same line is tied to me, if you fall over a slight wind will push the toon away from you and you know if you go over the dog is going to think it's swimming time and you have to keep both of floating as you watch the toon float away.

[tuned]

I work at a large corporation that is very safety oriented. This is the second spring that I have had this article posted company wide. I will continue this tradition. With several thousand people reading this every year, it is only a matter of time before it prevents a tragedy.

[playcat]

Good stuff to pass along.