# Death By SCUBA diving **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424 "2001-11-09T13:54:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ejrn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@ejrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ejrn)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/1 "2001-11-09T13:54:08Z")
A couple of years ago, I saw a movie (TV show?) where one of the characters committed suicide while diving with a friend. While his friend was distracted he took off straight down a wall. His friend was unable to catch up with him before it was too dangerous to continue. My question is: How would he have died? Was it: [ol][li]A dreamy, nitrogen narcosis to unconsciousness death[_]A run-out-of-air, sucking steel, panic death[_]Crushed from the pressure death[\*]Something else altogether[/ol][/li] God, it’s been soooooo long since I was able to get away on a dive trip! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/2 "2001-11-09T14:13:32Z")
Depends on how much air you have but I would say #1 and then #2. I’m going to be diving in Belize in just 20 days! Two full weeks! ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/3 "2001-11-09T14:13:51Z")
I’m no expert or anything but I am an avid diver. I think he would die by running out of oxygen first. The nitrogen wouldn’t start hitting him until he went up. I guess it also depends on just how far down he went too. Did the guy have just one tank? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/4 "2001-11-09T14:15:03Z")
Well, sort of. The nitrogen will cause the bends as you go up. At depth it has a narcotic effect. ---
**Author:** ![ejrn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@ejrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ejrn)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/5 "2001-11-09T14:18:33Z")
Don’t remember if it was one tank or two, but he did it early in the dive. Nitrgen **bubbles** hit you coming up, but nitrogen narcosis hits you when you’re down IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/6 "2001-11-09T14:49:05Z")
I would say probably numbers one or two would be most probable. Nitrogen narcosis to, possibly, the extent of blackout; causing the diver to drop the regulator from his mouth and drown. Or, another possibility would be for him to panic at depth, run low on air, and ascend too quickly while holding his breath; causing air embolism is, possibly, dozens of locations throughout the body. He could have dies from all of those mini-expolsions! ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/7 "2001-11-09T15:01:01Z")
Certified diver here… > [@](#): > > 1. A dreamy, nitrogen narcosis to unconsciousness death Unlikely. Narcosis is likened to being drunk. It is often described using “Martini’s Law” which states that every 30 feet of depth results in narcosis equivalent to drinking one martini. You don’t _feel_ intoxicated, but the effects _are_ there. As part of my advanced class our instructor had us work a table problem while kneeling on the bottom of the pool (about 5 feet). He then had us do the same type of problem while at 90 feet. It took me _three times_ as long to work the problem at depth. My buddy was even worse. He kept looking at his tables for several minutes before shrugging. He said later he couldn’t even figure out what to do with it. For a real world incident, I was diving the Blue Hole in Belize and was at about 130 feet when I suddenly noticed my buddy swimming out away from the wall into nowhere. I went after her and grabbed her. She kept trying to push me away and try to swim out further before I finally convinced her to swim back to the wall and up. She later told me that she was trying to “swim far enough out that I could see the entire wall to take a picture of it”. It made sense to her at the time. > [@](#): > > 1. A run-out-of-air, sucking steel, panic death Gets my vote. The deeper you are the faster you go through your air. When they run out of air they drown. > [@](#): > > 1. Crushed from the pressure death No. If you fail to equalize properly you can rupture your eardrums and have some sinus bleeding but you won’t be crushed by the pressure. Air from your tank is always at ambient pressure so your lungs won’t collapse until you have already died from 2. > [@](#): > > 1. Something else altogether Also likely. Several choices. If they are breathing standard air then Oxygen Toxcicity kicks in at around 240 feet. At that depth the partial pressure of Oxygen in the mix is such that Oxygen becomes a poison. OTox causes convulsions which usually leads to drowning and death. Alternatively, a combination of 1 and 2 is possible. Narcosis prevents them from thinking clearly and when they run out of air they panic and shoot for the surface. This can lead to air embolism and death. Even if they somehow make it to the surface a panic ascent could lead to getting bent on the surface which can also lead to drowning if no one is there to pick them up. I’m sure there are other things that could kill them but this is enough to start. Not how I would choose to go. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/8 "2001-11-09T15:04:29Z")
Oops. Gotta review my own posts better… I forgot to finish scenario 1. It is possible that due to narcosis they might do something stupid like take their regulator out of their mouth and drown or get into a situation that they can’t think clearly enough to get out of. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/9 "2001-11-09T15:10:17Z")
enipla - You’ll love Belize; I was there a few years ago and it was great. I have [a writeup of my trip](http://www.mountaindiver.com/dive20.html) if you are interested. Where are you staying? ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/10 "2001-11-09T18:08:37Z")
The inlaws just bought a bunch of beachfront propery in Belize. By coincidence, MIL just got back from getting diving instructor certification in Bulgaria. She now wants to teach us (Mrs. and Me) how to Scuba when we visit them next year. I can hardly wait! I furthest I’ve been down before is 10 ft in their pool in the backyard. Not many fish down there, but a few dead bugs. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-scuba-diving/92424/11 "2001-11-09T18:12:10Z")
tanstaafl, First three days on the mainland, going to go see Tecal, do some horseback riding and stuff. For the rest, we got a condo on Ambergries Caye. Thanks for the link.