A woman whose husband died while snorkelling on holiday on Maui in 2022 is taking legal action against the hotel that hired out the snorkelling gear, as well as both the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Visitors Convention Bureau.
She claims that all three had failed to educate the public about the potential dangers of immersive pulmonary oedema (IPO), or “drowning from inside”.
IPO can affect swimmers, scuba divers or snorkellers, and occurs under certain circumstances when infusion of bodily fluid into the lungs leads to shortness of breath, confusion and unconsciousness, though often with no outward signs of distress. In a post mortem examination the condition is usually indistinguishable from external drowning so can go undiagnosed.
Ray & Patricia Johnson had arrived from Michigan at the Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel with four friends late on 23 February, 2022. The fatal incident occurred on the morning of 25 February, off Wailea Beach in front of the hotel.
The couple had been to Hawaii five times before and Ray, an experienced swimmer and snorkeller, was reported to have often snorkelled before. The 64-year-old was in the sea with some of his friends but, after verbally reporting breathing difficulties, had kept his head above the surface while heading back towards the beach.
Because he seemed unwell his companions started shouting for the emergency services to be called as they helped him ashore.
From the beach, Ray’s wife of 38 years Patricia said she saw her husband’s head snap back as people tried to help him, and believed at that point that he was dead. Paramedics were subsequently unable to resuscitate him and, following a post mortem, his death was recorded as an accidental drowning.
Most victims are tourists
Drowning by snorkelling is the leading cause of death for visitors to Hawaii by a large margin. In the nine years up to 2022, 204 people were recorded as dying while undertaking the activity, with 90% of them tourists.
Concern about this trend had led as early as 2017 to the setting up by the state government of a Snorkel Safety Sub-Committee and appointment of experts who went on to produce the Hawaii Snorkelling Safety Study, which was completed in 2022. The findings were described in some detail both at the interim stage and on completion on Divernet.
What the report categorised as SIROPE (Snorkelling Induced Rapid Onset Pulmonary Edema) was distinguished from other IPOs by the possible role of some snorkels in restricting breathing, and the rapidity of the condition’s progression. It concluded that SIROPE led to “some, possibly most, fatal and non-fatal snorkel-related drownings”.
Patricia Johnson said that her husband had not appeared to her to be drowning because he had spoken to his friends about how he was feeling and she had seen him making his own way to shore. She had concluded that it was an IPO that had caused his death.
The Hawaii Snorkel Safety Study had also pointed to a possible risk in snorkelling in the days immediately following long flights, although the research team had emphasised that this was a hypothesis and that further work was needed in this area. Ray Johnson had gone snorkelling fewer than two days after his arrival.
Hawaii-based lawyer Jay Stuemke, who has taken on the Johnson case, has claimed that the flight was connected with the snorkeller’s death, stating that it takes three days after flying for the body to return to normal but that there were no official warnings to visitors that this could substantially increase risk of death if they went snorkelling.
Also on Divernet: Red flags for snorkellers: how to stop the quiet deaths, Snorkel-deaths report questions IPO findings, UK coroner records first IPO verdict on snorkeller, Breathless swimmer’s case boosts IPO awareness, Surviving IPO: A diver’s perspective
