This gives me an idea. In one of my lifesaving classes, they taught a sort of rescue-breathing that could be done while afloat; it involved sort of turning the person into an upright (as in, top of head toward the sky “sitting”) position. I don’t remember much about the technique except that it was hard to perform unless the other person was wearing a life jacket, in which case their head would likely be held out of the water anyway and you wouldn’t need to.
But there were several admonishments about trying to do mouth-to-mouth with the victim on their back: it can be done in water shallow enough that the rescuer can stand, but if the rescuer is treading water, you’re likely to end up turning the victim’s neck enough that they’ll inhale water…which you’ll proceed to blow into their lungs.
Sounds like something your hypothetically inept rescuer might try.
Assuming that whatever left the victim unconscious would cause head bleeding, another might be trying to keep the wound clean by “scooping” water over the wound (to rinse it). When panicking, you might manage to be unaware that you’re basically scooping water into the victim’s mouth.
I suppose bandages on the head might be another possibility; bandaging the head with torn cloth, and having it either interfere with breathing or just get wet and add weight to the head, causing it to tend downward.
Ah, one more: Putting a floatation device (board or something) under the small of the victim’s back, to “center” the lift. In actuality, it raises the torso, lowers the head and feet (into the water). In rough water, you can see this as the sort of mistake a panicking person might make and not notice, especially if they were having trouble staying afloat themselves.
Thought of one more (suddenly, I understand why no one wants to go out on a boat with me).
Disrobing the victim to prevent weighty clothing from “dragging them down” might seem like a good idea, and might even be a good idea, except:
If the water is very cold; in which case the clothing acts as insulation, letting a slightly warmer sheath of water stay around the victim, or
If the clothing has a tight enough weave, it can trap air and aid flotation (safety classes sometimes teach you to remove your pants, tie the legs shut, and fill it with air to act as an “impromptu” life jacket.
So under some circumstances, this could be a mistake. Under other circumstances, leaving the clothing ON could be the error (if it gets heavy and drags them down, causing the rescuer to lose more energy keeping the victim floating.)
This is true with freshwater as well. In either case, surfectant dissolution/washout can occur which interferes with alveolar function, and the tramua from exposure to water (salt or fresh) can cause atelectasis and alveolar capillary membrane damage. Any time someone has experienced a near drowning event they should be removed to a hospital for medical evaluation and observation, period.
Former lifeguard speaking. Number 1 is preposterous, unless they happen to be wearing a dry suit. 99% of clothing you are going to encounter will take up water, such water being the same temp as the rest of the water. The reason you wouldn’t remove it is that it would be awkward and time consuming. Better to just cop a feel while in the water, and wait until you hit dry land to strip her.
Check on number 2. You have to know how to do it, but you can make a passable float out of a pair of jeans.
While reading this thread outloud to my gf, she had a suggestion…
He pulls to shore, but needs to do CPR, however he leaves her head facing out to towards the ocean. This would leave the head tilted back and cause her to choke on the water as he performs CPR…
At the risk of sounding incredibly stupid, if she’s fallen into the water and is unconscious, what’s holding her up?
Okay, I’m going to assume that she was wearing a life jacket. In that case, I’d say that the WRONG thing to do would be to somehow tear off her lifejacket.
Or let’s say she grabbed some driftwood before passing out and the hero knocks the driftwood out from under her.
Of course, if there was a rubber dinghy involved, he could somehow pierce the rubber dinghy with the Leatherman that ALL strong/athletic types carry around. Can you work in a rubber dinghy? Just about every short story ought to have a rubber dinghy in it.
Is this a modern tale? What are they wearing? How far are they from shore? Does he have anywhere to go? Are they being pursued?
You could have her dragged down by her clothes if your dealing with a hsitorical setting, or rough surf could make it impossible for him to keep her head above water, or he tries to swim for shore but gets too tired and has to ditch her in order to save himself.
It’s modern times, yes; they’re in the ocean. I can’t go into much detail becauve I’ve only just begun thinking about it & making notes.
You could have her dragged down by her clothes if your dealing with a hsitorical setting, or rough surf could make it impossible for him to keep her head above water, or he tries to swim for shore but gets too tired and has to ditch her in order to save himself.
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Sorry, I was a bit careless with my posting. I am not exactly sure either, though. I imagine she is meaning that if there is water inside her lungs and you lay her to perform CPR, the water will come up from her lungs and into her mouth at the same time, while she will simply choke on the water that is in her mouth then…
Or maybe she didn’t have a good point after all. I’ll ask her this evening when I get home…
I was taught to come up from behind and wrap an arm around the person’s neck, then sidestroke my way back using the free arm.
I was also told forcefully to never go after someone while they’re struggling hard. The guy said to wait if possible and let the victim tire out, or hit him as hard as I can to stun him so I can get my arm around his neck and drag him out of the water.
I left with the impression that it’s a bad idea to be gentle with a drowning person. Makes good sense I guess.
So my .02 I guess would be to have your character screw up by jumping in immediately and be pulled under by someone in a total panic fugue.
Whoever taught you left you with some very bad impressions. You don’t wrap an arm around their neck (thereby guaranteeing panic, strangulation, neck injury, or a combination thereof); you put your arm through their armpit and onto the opposite shoulder. This both gives you leverage, allows you to tow them without injury, puts your hand in a place where you can support the victim’s head if he’s unconscoius, and puts you in a position to perform rescue breathing if necessary.
It’s true that you don’t want to be within reaching distance if he’s in a panic or near-panic lest hs swamp you by trying to jump on top of you, but there’s no call or reason to “hit him as hard as [you] can”. You stay out of reach, try to calm him verbally, and wait for him to calm down or tire out. If he does jump on you, you dive down (which is the last place he wants to go) and manipulate him by grappling his legs to turn the victim away from you.
Better yet (as others have pointed out) stay ashore or on boat and throw a line. Jumping in to save a conscious, panicked victim is a perilous situation for both victim and rescuer, and usually unnecessary.
Remember, is someone is struggling and thrashing enough to be dangerous, they’re not drowning yet. They’re panicking, but they’ve still got plenty of air. Eventually they’ll either calm down or pass out. Then you rescue them. No need to hit them on the head, that’s ridiculous. You really can’t hit someone hard enough to knock them out without risking permanent injury. Yeah, brain damage would be better than drowning to death…but if they’re struggling they AREN’T DROWNING. Yet.
Absolutely correct. I don’t think it’s what they meant, though.
They’re not talking about air acting as an insulator in the clothing. Rather, the clothing would fill with cold water, the water near the person’s body would warm, and the clothing would act as insulation to slow down the movement of that water away from the person (to be replaced by colder water). Sort of the same idea as layers of blankets or clothing keeping you warm in cold air.
I wish I could find where I read this; there was some sort of cite about cold-water immersion victims lasting (slightly) longer before becoming hypothermic if they were clothed rather than in bathing suits.
In any event, I can’t image that the effect is very large.
Along this line, back when I took lifesaving, they taught us to reach over the victim’s shoulder and under their other armpit to tow them.
A couple of times in class guys wound up with a handfull of their partner’s boob. :eek:
No not like that. It was by accident you perverts.
Penis, however, did not ensue.
So the guy could wind up with a handfull of boob and be very embarassed about it.
You could crib from Patrick O’Brien - have the heroic rescuer misjudge his heroic leap and dive right on top of the rescuee, forcing her deep underwater.
Or, if you’re SpongeBob SquarePants, you can swallow the entire lagoon. But then Patrick will just be trapped inside you.
I’m a former lifeguard. I was trained by the Boy Scouts in the early Eighties, when the slogan was “Reach, throw, row and go… with assistance” (slightly different from what Lagomorph posted). Each of these methods subjects you, the rescuer, to increasing levels of danger. Quickly try each, or make sure that it won’t work, before going to the next. Kicking off your shoes and taking off any heavy clothing before jumping in is also wise. The “assistance” you take with you can be any floating object, a stick or short pole, or even a towel (that you can whip at the drowning person, so that he or she can grab it and not you). Water rescues can be very dangerous, and if done poorly will result in two deaths by drowning, not one.
Unless your saying he leaves her head in the water, this makes no sense.