The Ordeal of Donald Boone is a direct account of a deep sea diver’s terrible timing, and the medical miracle of keeping him alive. Donald Boone was a deep sea diver the worked for the “Taylor Diving and Salvage Company” onboard an offshore barge. Underwater divers experience extreme conditions on a daily basis and as a means to better regulate the time divers spend under heavy pressure conditions barges have pressurized living quarters for their divers. At the end of a dive each diver gets into an apparatus known as a dive bell while still underwater. This dive bell is then set to the PSI or pressure per square inch that they experience while at their dive depths. The dive bell is then placed in a pressurized dive chamber that allows the divers
…show more content…
Donald, or Don, was using the chambers facilities and preceded to flush the commode while sitting on it, at the exact moment another worker vented the hatch from the outside. This simultaneous opening of both the internal and external hatches created a vacuum like effect. This vacuum then literally sucked Boone in. The extreme suction of the vacuum caused Boone to be forced downward creating an in a way human cork. A cork with only one weakness, the anus. Quickly after Boone was forced into the hole, his anal opening gave way and the majority of Boone’s intestinal tract was inverted. Boone was able to forcibly separate his lower body from the suction of the toilet, he then with the help of another diver was able to gather his partially attached internal organs and make his way to his bunk to await help. Aid came in the form of Dr. Linwood Carter, and surgical resident Victor Tedesco, the two were able to miraculously salvage Boone’s life by preforming emergency surgery within the pressure chamber. Performing surgery on a barge, at sea, is challenging enough but having to do so under literal extreme pressure is a medical marvel. The logistical challenges posed by the pressure chamber forced Dr.’s Carter and Tedesco to have to resort to primitive practices such as using betadine instead of alcohol for sterilization because of alcohols instability under
Donald, or Don, was using the chambers facilities and preceded to flush the commode while sitting on it, at the exact moment another worker vented the hatch from the outside. This simultaneous opening of both the internal and external hatches created a vacuum like effect. This vacuum then literally sucked Boone in. The extreme suction of the vacuum caused Boone to be forced downward creating an in a way human cork. A cork with only one weakness, the anus. Quickly after Boone was forced into the hole, his anal opening gave way and the majority of Boone’s intestinal tract was inverted. Boone was able to forcibly separate his lower body from the suction of the toilet, he then with the help of another diver was able to gather his partially attached internal organs and make his way to his bunk to await help. Aid came in the form of Dr. Linwood Carter, and surgical resident Victor Tedesco, the two were able to miraculously salvage Boone’s life by preforming emergency surgery within the pressure chamber. Performing surgery on a barge, at sea, is challenging enough but having to do so under literal extreme pressure is a medical marvel. The logistical challenges posed by the pressure chamber forced Dr.’s Carter and Tedesco to have to resort to primitive practices such as using betadine instead of alcohol for sterilization because of alcohols instability under