Experts are calling for vigilance in swimming pools after a 41-year-old man died after hitting his head during a risky dive Sunday evening in Laval.
• Read more: A man drowned in his swimming pool in Laval
“It’s terrible. We can define it as a plague [parce que] It’s something that could easily be avoided,” emphasizes Jean-François Giguère, head of the neurosurgery department at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal.
The doctor had two patients on his floor, aged 24 and 50, who were quadriplegic after taking a dive.
“When you become a quadriplegic, you destroy the lives of the people around you and your own,” says Dr. Jaguar underlines. Think about yourself and others before diving in. »
The latest incident happened at a residential swimming pool in Laval on Sunday around 6pm.
According to preliminary information provided by Laval Police, a man hit his head on the bottom of the pool after diving.
When they arrived, the emergency services carried out manoeuvres, to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
This tragedy may have happened in the presence of his family members. An investigation is underway to clarify the circumstances of the death.
Repetitive and dangerous
According to the Lifesaving Association, ten incidents involving injury or death occur each year in Quebec. Most of the victims are men.
“These are people who end up with severe trauma like paraplegia or quadriplegia. It’s happened in open water and residential pools,” says the company’s general manager, Reynolds Hawkins.
As a general rule, bathers should ensure that the depth of the enclosure is twice their height.
“Every year I see reckless youths who even take thrills in the air to take a dip in the above-ground pool,” says Mr. Hawkins.
Death or suffering
Jean-François Giguère insists: “When you’re drunk you have to dive in with your feet first or you don’t know how deep it is, and that’s where we use our intelligence. »
Doctors warn that survivors of spinal cord trauma may face a long rehabilitation.
– with QMI Agency
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