# Mt. St. Helens Crater Guy (and similar situations): Who pays? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509 "2010-02-18T19:31:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/1 "2010-02-18T19:31:29Z")
In the case of a recovery like this is his estate liable for the cost of retrieving his body? There’s also going to be an autopsy. Does the estate have to pay for that? Do they legally “have to” recover the body? (Personally, if I had been in that situation, I’d have just preferred they left me there to be recycled, but anyway. . . .) ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/2 "2010-02-18T19:50:06Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > There’s also going to be an autopsy. You sure about that? > **[The Seattle Times | Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment,...](https://www.seattletimes.com)** > > Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment, travel, restaurants and opinion for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. > [@](#): > > STEVENSON, Wash. — > > Skamania County officials say no autopsy will be conducted on the body of the climber who fell into the crater of Mount St. Helens. > > Deputy Prosecutor Chris Lanz told The Vancouver Columbian on Wednesday that Joseph Bohlig died of blunt trauma “in what was obviously an accidental situation.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/3 "2010-02-18T19:53:59Z")
Eh, obviously not now, but in the early reports of the recovery one of them mentioned that the autopsy would would be to determine whether he died of hypothermia, injuries, or some combination. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/4 "2010-02-18T20:34:11Z")
Just a wee note to OP (not a nasty, snide remark - please don’t misconstrue this :)) - living in the UK I’ve heard nothing about this guy. There’s enough from Brian Blessed’s link to work out what has been going on, but in the cases that there are not such thoughtfully provided posts it could be dreadfully confusing. So when the news is not clearly worldwide (and if it kills one chap who is not a world leader it is probably not worldwide) please do let us know at least what you are talking about, even if no external links are forthcoming. Cheers, AL ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/5 "2010-02-18T20:49:19Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Just a wee note to OP. . . living in the UK I’ve heard nothing about this guy. There’s enough from Brian Blessed’s link to work out what has been going on. . . . Cool. Good Point. Without researching, though, the rest went over my head. To me, Brian Blessed’s iconic role is Prince Vultan. I’m sure he’s proud of that potboiler role. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/6 "2010-02-18T21:13:13Z")
[Heh](http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/I'm+Spartacus/) didn’t realise that this was so obscure, but google it seems that it was… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/7 "2010-02-18T21:31:24Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > (Personally, if I had been in that situation, I’d have just preferred they left me there to be recycled, but anyway. . . .) We could sing some Alice Cooper at your wake, _I Wanna Be Ejected…_ ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/8 "2010-02-18T22:32:45Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > (Personally, if I had been in that situation, I’d have just preferred they left me there to be recycled, but anyway. . . .) I wouldn’t in this particular instance; they didn’t know for sure he was dead until recovery. I don’t care what happens to my body after I’m done using it, but I really do want to be _done_ using it first. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/9 "2010-02-18T22:38:52Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > In the case of a recovery like this is his estate liable for the cost of retrieving his body? Since this hasn’t been answered, I’ll provide my uncited guess based on past similar stories: Technically, yes, most organizations can charge hikers and their families/estates for rescue/recovery operations. However, it seems like they usually just build this stuff into the budget of the various rescue organizations and/or fund it with donations. The only times I can remember the possibility of actually charging coming up were either repeated rescues of the same people, or rescues/recoveries from circumstances that the rescuees were clearly warned not to do in advance. So I _think_ (no cite, no certainty) that good faith rescues and recoveries are often done “free”, regardless of the legal ability to charge. In this case, the victim was a careful hiker who knew (and had trained others) in what not to do, and so clearly didn’t mean to/realize he was placing himself in danger. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/10 "2010-02-18T22:48:45Z")
Many rescue groups don’t want to charge because it can lead to more problems - it can make people reluctant to ask for help and then end up even worse off. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mt-st-helens-crater-guy-and-similar-situations-who-pays/529509/11 "2010-02-18T23:39:56Z")
The body was recovered by the US military, specifically a rescue helicopter and crew from Whidbey Island NAS. Consider it the cost of “doing business.” Since rescues are their business (military rescues) this could be written off as an unscheduled training drill, regardless of the fact the rescue was a civilian. As to the larger issue at hand, it still is the cost of doing business. It’s why we all pay for fire and police protection, even though many of us will seldom, if ever, require their services. You can apply it to the military as well as mentioned above. We’ve had other threads as to whether those who partake in high(er) risk playtimes should pay for their own potential misfortunes and the opinions always vary. There had to be a potential rescue attempt. Without an attempt, there was no basis for an eventual recovery. The key is potential. It appears the risk to a recovery was the same of a rescue. However, during a potential rescue, had it been somewhat easy to determine with minimal risk that it was going to be a recovery, and that recovery posed a much greater risk in itself, then the decision tree would have been to determine if a recovery had to be effected, regardless of the cost. It turned out that the larger rescue helicopter, combined with more favorable weather, probably made the decision just that much easier.