DrDom

Good call, Top! Didnt even think of it, I get pretty spoiled by having that done at "triage" for me in the ER; but in EMS days its HUGE. Also, CONTACT INFO is big. I assume the waiver that the person signed has their medical history and such (mine did) so someone should get a copy of that and bring it or fax it to the receiving ER if known. more info is better, all surgeries tend to have antibiotics given beforehand, being allergic to them just causes more problems. Their emergency contact is usually listed, either get that to the responders or call them yourself. It goes a long way... and there is no better feeling than waking up and seeing a loved one after cheating death. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Physics is such a cruel bitch... More people = more uncomfortable = more time to altitude Nothing like your legs being asleep as you climb out ;) You are not the contents of your wallet.

As an ER doc I'm hoping to put something together and teach for free to some DZs in the area. I do a class called "Injury and Illness at Sporting events" for lay rescuers in the community, but its far from specific to skydiving (gear and such varies). The most important things are: Step Zero: DO NOT try and rescue someone if it is dangerous to do so. Nothing is worse than a single victim becoming a mass casualty incident. 1) CALL EMS EARLY. Seriously. If you aren't 100% sure you should call (EMS does not mind being called off) 2) Do not move the person unless they are in imminent danger of death from another cause (power lines, drowning, fire, wild animals, etc) 3) Prevent them from moving their head. Immobilize them in place if possible using your hands. 4) If they are not breathing, you can try a "jaw thrust" (google it). You lift the jaw without moving the neck. There is a high likelihood of neck injury with typical skydiving injuries. You could potentially paralyze someone if you move them. 5) If they vomit or have blood in their mouth and can not breathe you may need to "log roll" them while supporting their neck. It is a rare time you may need to move someone. Roll them as a unit with help, practice beforehand. 6) If the injury is more mild remember "bones only bend at joints", if one is "bent" elsewhere do not move it, you can make a fracture much much worse as well as the pain 7) Control temperature. They may be in shock and unable to thermoregulate. If its cold warm them. If its warm get them in the shade. 8) give them NOTHING by mouth. Nothing. 9) Keep them calm, keep yourself calm, and be patient. It WILL feel like a lifetime. 10) You should ONLY remove gear if you are trained to do so. Let the responders do it. Consider disconnecting their main parachute via standard cutaway if possible, it gets one more variable out of the way. There is a lot to it, the single best thing you can do is sort out who had medical training at your DZ (theres a lot of us out there) and ask if they can help teach. Most people in healthcare love to teach! You are not the contents of your wallet.

OK, I have to interject here for one second because there are some dangerous facts being tossed around. I dont know squat about skydiving and can not give advice on such. But I do have 15 years interacting with EMS and 8 in Emergency Medicine... The data for accidents CLEARLY shows that there are a negligible ("trivial") number of people who die from seatbelts, and it usually is in the setting of entrapment with a vehicle on fire. MOST of these were deemed non-survivable because either the mechanism OR the vehicle was damaged in a way that the seatbelt was NOT the entrapping factor (more crushed metal). Now, the logic of "being thrown clear of an accident" is tragic that it even comes up. According to the latest ATLS research (Advanced Trauma Life Support) the risk of death goes up approximately 200 fold when you are ejected from a vehicle regardless of type of accident. 200 fold. Not kidding. OK, back to the skydiving topic... an RSL/MARD (similar so I lump them together) are safety devices. Motorcycle helmets are the same. Many people do not wear them, and a lot of people swear they are better off without (i've heard it all from "it restricts my vision", "it muddles my hearing", "glare from the lens", and all kinds of crap including the risk of it ripping one's head off if it gets stuck.). But what it comes down to is the freedom that each person has to determine their destiny. I'm a firm believer that students need RSLs, AADs, and anything to keep them from getting killed. But as adults what we need is proper information regarding safety devices. Can RSL's save a life? Yes. In most but not all circumstances. Can RSL's be dangerous? Yes, rarely, in specific instances. Much like skydiving. AAD's are the same. I'm a man of numbers, and what I can tell is that at least at my level... my likelihood of being alive BECAUSE of something like an RSL/MARD or AAD is higher than being killed by one. But again, I look at numbers... and I'm not much separated from your average non-jumper so my opinion is only that. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Although I generally apply the metric system in the realm of the sciences, it can be done and easily converted if needed. This is an excellent post and the physics behind freefall is elegant to say the least. log base e and cosh is the hyperbolic function I believe. I digress though, this is one exceptional post because I'm such a physics nerd and this makes me ponder the sky in ways other than "jump, fall, pull, flare, repeat". Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant. Thank you :)

There are actually several but I like Valsalva myself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_clearing some great ones there. I usually do it when my canopy gets open and then again on the ground. The relief feels so nice... You are not the contents of your wallet.

I think the only thing to say is: Congrats :) You are not the contents of your wallet.

^^^ This. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Why concrete rebound hammer? Because F- You, thats why. You are not the contents of your wallet.

If he can be that easily talked into doing something illegal I would be looking for a Dr. with more integrity. Sparky Doctor loyalty must always be to the patient, not to a full retard government official. If someone was protecting a kid from a bully on the playground you wouldn't say that student lacks integrity, you would applaud him for standing up for the victim. So why would a doctor protecting the patient from an abusive government be considered to lack integrity? Evidently what they taught you in medical school was a lot different than what they taught me. Saying you are prescribing a drug "for another reason" to bypass the law is unethical, illegal, and if discovered could cause you to lose your license. It also could get you thrown off of insurance carriers which means loss of revenue. There are VERY strict ethical standards that physicains are held to. You may see it as a white lie, the medical board (i.e. other doctors) would see it as a breech of ethics. You can not view government regulation as a bully, you have to view it as a legal standard that we can not violate lest we be both criminal and lacking in ethics and moral character. Sure, some may do it (i.e. the antidepressant for "sleep"), but its not the right thing to do. Nobody likes playing by the rules, but asking a doc to lie for you puts us in a bad situation. We don't like to be fun killers, but someone has to be doing the right thing here. Ordering excess arrays of unneeded medical exams is what is unethical and immoral. "Lying" to protect a patient from harm is not beneficial to the physician but it is not unethical. That being said, as a future physician I have no intention of breaking the rules. But on a basic rational level, it is not immoral to break an immoral rule. 1) What tests are ordered that are "unnecessary"? 2) Lying to protect someone from harm? What harm? Non-invasive testing? You'll think differently when you are initiated into medicine. If you go into your interviews with this cavalier attitude you'll never make it through the door. We exist in a profession that is held to a standard that NO other field is. If you bend one rule, what next? Bend more to suit your needs? knowingly lying for ANY reason is unethical in medicine. Simple. I've served on ethics committees, medical boards, admissions committees, and I run a department. If I ever found out a doc lied for any reason in a medical chart, to a patient, or to a governing body they would be terminated and it would be reported to the medical board which would likely cause them to lose their license. Trust me... I've seen med students thrown out of school, i've seen residents relieved of duty, and I've seen "well meaning" docs stripped of their titles. This shit is serious. But, again, as a non-physician you can bend or ignore rules you do not see fit. But we are highly accountable. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I, too, like bowling. But only candlepin... You are not the contents of your wallet.

Maybe as a general rule one should not be pranking amateur divers? Seems like a generally bad idea. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I've dealt with these issues in my medicolegal meanderings, if you fill out the form to the best of your ability with information you believe to be factual, it actually can't be prosecuted. The clause usually states "any knowingly inaccurate" or something similar. You can make a mistake, as long as you didnt INTENTIONALLY make the mistake. Best to be accurate though. You are not the contents of your wallet.

If he can be that easily talked into doing something illegal I would be looking for a Dr. with more integrity. Sparky Doctor loyalty must always be to the patient, not to a full retard government official. If someone was protecting a kid from a bully on the playground you wouldn't say that student lacks integrity, you would applaud him for standing up for the victim. So why would a doctor protecting the patient from an abusive government be considered to lack integrity? Evidently what they taught you in medical school was a lot different than what they taught me. Saying you are prescribing a drug "for another reason" to bypass the law is unethical, illegal, and if discovered could cause you to lose your license. It also could get you thrown off of insurance carriers which means loss of revenue. There are VERY strict ethical standards that physicains are held to. You may see it as a white lie, the medical board (i.e. other doctors) would see it as a breech of ethics. You can not view government regulation as a bully, you have to view it as a legal standard that we can not violate lest we be both criminal and lacking in ethics and moral character. Sure, some may do it (i.e. the antidepressant for "sleep"), but its not the right thing to do. Nobody likes playing by the rules, but asking a doc to lie for you puts us in a bad situation. We don't like to be fun killers, but someone has to be doing the right thing here. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Ditto, and I'm re-reading it to get me out on my 8th ;) You are not the contents of your wallet.

The diference is that a highly loaded canopy will still have the same groundspeed at a glide; a motorcycle with a litre engine can be driven as a docile machine. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I can weigh in for a few parts. I had a Ross procedure at age 27 for a leaky aortic valve, and I recently took up skydiving. I'm also a doctor (yes the MD kind) So, a few things... First off, the real risk of skydiving on an aortic valve is not that you will "tear off" a valve; you actually go back to the basic risks of the general population and usually when you oversew an area you actually end up with that piece scarring and being STRONGER than before. If you hit hard enough to tear your replacement, you would have probably sheared your aorta already, even with a healthy valve. You DO need to get your regular echoes and such but in general this alone is not a real contraindication to skydiving as your REAL risk is long term heart disease. And your knowledge of the Ross is spot on, I elected to have one having known how great of a procedure is. Yes, there is a 2 valve replacement, but your risk with a 2 valve replacement is LESS than a Pig/Cow valve (which at our age will ONLY last 5-7 years and require replacement) or the risk of being on warfarin (blood thinners) which would be a contraindication to skydiving. NOW... the real question as to recovery time. It is multifactorial. First, the sternum will take WELL over 2 months to heal. Well over. But you have wires in place that will hold the sternum. So the real issue is the suture lines on the valves and coronary arteries (which get moved during valve replacement). These will also take a few months to properly heal over. Normally they do echocardiograms after; I had mine at 1; 3; 6; 12 months and twice yearly for 5 years. After my 6 month checkup I was given a "clean bill of health" and sent out to the world. I was allowed back on a motorcycle, auto racing, etc. Skydiving would likely be not very different in terms of risk. I would at least get to your first echo appointment since any postop issues would manifest by then. Interesting how many of us had heart surgery young. Most of my friends do not understand how I can be afraid to skydive but was cucumber cool going in for surgery. Guess it is all in what you know ;) With that in mind, you should ask your surgeon. I did not do your exact surgery and any issues or findings (I'm an ER doc, I just have a lot of knowledge having gone through this) so I can not attest to what is exactly right in your specific case. As it is, I have to disclaimer that this post should not be taken as medical advice (blah blah legal crap blah blah use at your own risk consult your doctor and fortune teller before skydiving). You are not the contents of your wallet.

If you PAWN it you are basically getting a loan based on the potential resale value of the rig. You'll get maybe 50% of resale value and a time to repay. If you sell it (if they will even take it) it will be worth little unless they know a DZ and rigger who can appraise it. Remember that the contract with a pawn shop is for a fixed period of time where they CAN NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE sell the item. After that, the item gets listed and maybe sold. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I'm with the guys above... its NOT failure. Failure is denting the earth. You just "did not perform to standard" which is NOTHING to feel bad about. The sport is inherently unnatural and if you were good at everything you just took up... well... you'd be rich, famous, and on magazine covers. I can't help but agree that instead of trying to jam back into it and have to keep getting current you could take a little tunnel time? Then you could make your body position a little more natural and get back to the sky. Anyhow, no matter what you do, you did not FAIL anything... you're progressing in an extremely difficult and technical sport. I call that a success. You are not the contents of your wallet.

There are lots of bowling facilities in Florida... ;) Good for you guys, keep at it! You are not the contents of your wallet.

Havng studied accidents and accident psychology, there are simply peopel who despite being "the best of the best" make mistakes. Some people suddenly lock, have a medical, get disoriented. I've seen SCUBA divers on video pull the regulators out of their mouths, I've seen pilots drive planes right into the ground. We do need to be prepared for the unknown, but I feel like pranks add another variable to an already dangerous situation and with few exception will say that they belong on the ground. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Based on the replies, I would say "Call the DZ, have him talk to an instructor". A lot will probably depend on the instructor. I completed Levels 1-6; I regained my door fear and stopped early. I plan on going back and have had responses from "FJC, Level 1 which may become a harness release dive, followed by Levels 4-5-6-7 and then solo" to "Short course, Single instructor harness hold if

I'll ask a dumb question... does it need to be a UK doc that signs the paperwork? If you take a flight to Massachusetts in the USA I could do a physical, generate a chart, and get you on your way. SCUBA is, in my opinion, more dangerous for diabetes simply because of the duration of exposure. Skydiving your odds of a 15 minute flight and 2 minute freefall are pretty low; if you're underwater and start to get low... things could get bad... delay surfacing, disorientation, etc. I had open heart surgery and my doc is fine with me jumping. But hey... again... get a second opinion. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Not to be rude, but if you're not able to accept the risk of bodily harm then... you may not want to get into this sport. The problem with skydiving is the number of variables. There are so many which can lead to bad openings, twists, need for reserves, hard landings, collapses, collisions, off-landings... its a sport that perfection is sought but never found. Its the same with auto racing (something I have some experience in). No matter how good I got, sometimes a variable would change and things would go awry... one great example, we had our car tuned so perfect it was like a symphony sailing through the road course. 10 laps into a 50 lap race I'm pushing fast into turn 5 just like every single corner before it... and the car slides off at 76MPH into the tyres. What happened? Well, I had not realized that there was a tree near the corner that the sun went behind causing a 2 degree cooler surface that my tyres were not ready for. With skydiving, it is the same. Little wind here, humidity there, bad rubber band, slider shifts funny while packing... 99% of the time everything is great, you gotta train for the other 1%. The packers I've met (small number, mind you) care greatly about the pack jobs they do. They care about their work. Someone packs a few hard opens, and pretty soon nobody wants them packing and they are broke. Anyhow, things will happen, if you aren't able to accept that risk, there are other sports that have less variables. Less risk. But in a system with this many variables things "do just happen". If we could prevent all of them... well... we would not be in danger when falling at the blue marble at 120mph. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I don't think he is questioning why he should jump or if it is safe for HIM, I think it is that his country requires him to be certified to do such and they will not do it because of his diabetes. It would be easy here... hell if "any" doc could sign the paper I'd do it for him. You are not the contents of your wallet.