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A woman is suing Hawaii’s tourism authority following the allegedly “preventable” snorkelling death of her husband.
Ray Johnson, 64, developed trouble breathing while snorkelling off a beach in Maui, Hawaii.
The Michigan father-of-four was helped ashore by a friend, as he remained responsive and even talked, wife Patti said. Just moments later, Mr Johnson passed away right in front of her.
A coroner officially ruled that he died by drowning, according to Mrs Johnson’s lawsuit. But the widow was left with a sinking feeling when she received the results of the post-mortem.
At first glance I agreed with you. However after reading the article if what that doctor said is true, that after long flights there really is "a substantial increased risk of death." well it seems as if the travelers should have received this warning.
I never knew there was a risk of dying after a long flight for anyone in good health. Hawaii is far enough from the mainland that just from California is a long flight. Hence, Hawaii tourism should had more issues with tourists snorkeling after a long flight, given that basically every tourist to the islands arrive after such a flight.
Does anyone knows if Hawaii faces other snorkeling deaths by tourists? I would like to think it doesn’t, but then I notice what made this particular case worthy of being in a more widespread news outlet is not that he died from snorkeling, but the difference between what was said he died from vs what the post-mortem results says.
I never knew there was a risk of dying after a long flight for anyone in good health. Hawaii is far enough from the mainland that just from California is a long flight. Hence, Hawaii tourism should had more issues with tourists snorkeling after a long flight, given that basically every tourist to the islands arrive after such a flight.
Does anyone knows if Hawaii faces other snorkeling deaths by tourists? I would like to think it doesn’t, but then I notice what made this particular case worthy of being in a more widespread news outlet is not that he died from snorkeling, but the difference between what was said he died from vs what the post-mortem results says.
I hate to cite lawyers but what they are saying does make sense. A guy who is drowning is not talking to people, the autopsy may very well not differentiate between drowning and rapid onset pulmonary edema (ROPE).
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Well, this is interesting. The Hawaii tourism bureau knew this information in 2020. Because they commissioned this study, because people were drowning there.
It's a thing there, obviously because most of the snorkelers there have recently been on a very long plane flight - due to the remoteness of Hawaii.
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Y'know, at 64 yrs old I think I'd check with my doc about snorkeling (or any other activity out of the ordinary) right after a long flight.
Also, if this is little known/ rare why would there be warnings, we can't wrap everything in warning labels for every possible outcome. And... if this is because of a long flight, is she also suing the airline? Should they be alerting passengers about possible bad outcomes from flying to vacation destinations?
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Originally Posted by DubbleT
Y'know, at 64 yrs old I think I'd check with my doc about snorkeling (or any other activity out of the ordinary) right after a long flight.
Also, if this is little known/ rare why would there be warnings, we can't wrap everything in warning labels for every possible outcome. And... if this is because of a long flight, is she also suing the airline? Should they be alerting passengers about possible bad outcomes from flying to vacation destinations?
Read my link above. It's not a "little known" or "rare" thing in Hawaii. It was concerning enough that in 2020 they commissioned this study to figure out why snorkelers were drowning.
They knew.
And yes, airlines should probably warn passengers in their communications that snorkeling would be much riskier after the long flight than in other situations.
Well, this is interesting. The Hawaii tourism bureau knew this information in 2020. Because they commissioned this study, because people were drowning there.
It's a thing there, obviously because most of the snorkelers there have recently been on a very long plane flight - due to the remoteness of Hawaii.
I read the study. It actually explicitly says that even though they speculate on a link between long flights and this phenomenon, they can't prove it within the scope of their study, so the study did not actually 'find a link', it simply said a link could be a reasonable explanation for the high rate of visitor snorkeling drownings. It points to further study being necessary to prove that link.
The study did find a significant link to preexisting heart issues (i.e. this isn't happening to fit 25 year olds, but more likely 55+ individuals with health issues), so you could also place the onus on doctors to warn their patients with such conditions to avoid snorkeling.
Yeah I am 65 and would never even think to check to see if it would be safe for me to snorkel, it's probably what I would look to do as soon as I got there.
Now that we know this is a thing and the tourist bureau knew about the risks, well.......
I read the study. It actually explicitly says that even though they speculate on a link between long flights and this phenomenon, they can't prove it within the scope of their study, so the study did not actually 'find a link', it simply said a link could be a reasonable explanation for the high rate of visitor snorkeling drownings. It points to further study being necessary to prove that link.
The study did find a significant link to preexisting heart issues (i.e. this isn't happening to fit 25 year olds, but more likely 55+ individuals with health issues), so you could also place the onus on doctors to warn their patients with such conditions to avoid snorkeling.
Your interpretation of the report differs from mine. I read "The idea that air travel may be a factor is hypothetical. We can only say that it has a credible basis in physiology". This as well as how they described how a snorkel creates air flow resistance and how this may be problematic for those on recent air travel (which was confirmed by the doctor quoted in the article) tells me they should have issues a warning. Or to be more effective it should required that resorts or anyone renting snorkel equipment issue a warning of the possible risks.
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