[divingchef]

This is pure conjecture and has no basis in reality (stems from a dream and i am curious).....

You go on a dive trip somewhere in the US.....the morning of your first dive, your usual and long-time buddy wakes up with a sinus infection....can´t dive, but insists you go ahead....you agree.....

You show up at the dive shop/resort/marina.......you inform the DM/instr/operator that you are a single and will be needing a buddy. As the other clients trickle in, you sit back and try to pick out other singles and sort of make little mental bets with yourself as to which one you´ll get.....instead of being pro-active, you wait for the DM to assign you your buddy....

Older gentleman (which is not a negative), a bit out of control on the boat...you saw him in the parking lot chain smoking before he entered the dive shop.....looks like he came straight from the bar.....you speak with him at length before gearing up to insure yourself that he is safe....you convince yourself he is (you REALLY want to dive) and proceed with the dive...

...80 feet, artificial reef (liberty ship)....DM forbids entry into the ship in the briefing and suggests that anyone entering the ship will not be allowed to enter the water on the second dive....

anyway to make a long story a bit shorter.....your "buddy" screws up. Make up this part of the story yourself .....he enters the ship, gets hung up, panics, heart attack.......or he embolizes......or ignores his compu and bends......anyway suffice it to say that your "buddy" either ends his life on this dive, or injures himself to the point that he will never dive again.

In review of the underwater situation, you probably could have helped him. You should have insisted NO when he began making his mistakes (because as we all know its neve one mistake, its a whole greasy chain of them) however, you considered yourself at risk and had convinced yourself that his abilities to "self-rescue" were ample or the DM would not have put him in the water (yeah right).....

to get to the just of this story......someone in your "buddy´s" family, decides its your fault and begins whatever mucky legal process they can dream up (involuntary manslaughter, civil suit wrongful death, whatever)

What are your liabilities as a diver? Is there an assumed liability when diving in this situation or does the Dive Operation assume full responsibility? Does anyone know the legalities of this situation? Has anyone heard about situations like this?

Once again, this was a dream I had and is 100% based in fiction and a wild imagination......it just kind of freaked me out and I wanted to get off my chest......