Drowning Definition
In 2002 world experts in clinical medicine, injury epidemiology, education and rescue developed an internationally accepted definition for drowning.
Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in liquid.
It is important to note that the definition allows for both cases of fatal and non-fatal drowning which it is believed will lead to more reliable and comprehensive information on this global public health problem.
It is salutary that in New Zealand, for every one fatality there are 8 near fatal drowning incidents.
Death By Drowning
This account explains the physiology involved in the process of drowning.
“Researchers have shown that a human in a drowning situation holds their breathe for 87 seconds. That’s how long the instinct not to breathe can overcome the thought of running out of air; how long a sort of clear headedness lasts. Eighty-seven is the break point.
Until the break point a drowning person is said to be undergoing “voluntary apnea” – choosing not to breathe. Lack of oxygen to the brain causes a sensation of darkness closing in from all sides. The panic of a drowning person is mixed with the odd incredulity that this is actually happening.
When the first involuntary breath is taken most people are still conscious, which is unfortunate because the only thing more unpleasant than running out of air is breathing water. At this point the person goes from voluntary to involuntary apnea and the drowning begins in earnest.
A spasmodic breath drags water into the mouth and windpipe and then one of two things happens. In about 10 percent of people water touching the vocal cords triggers an immediate contraction in the muscles around the larynx. This is called laryngospasm and it’s so powerful that it overcomes the breathing reflex and eventually suffocates the person. A person with laryngospasm dies without water in the lungs.
In the other 90 per cent of people water floods the lungs and ends any warning transfer of oxygen to the blood. The clock is running down now; half-conscious and enfeebled by oxygen depletion, the drowning person is in no condition to fight.
They have suffered for a minute or two. Their bodies, having imposed increasingly drastic measures to keep functioning, have finally started to shut down. Only the brain is alive, but its electrical activity gets weaker and weaker until, after 15-20 minutes, it ceases altogether.”
Copyright 1997 Sebastian Junger. Published by Fourth Estate.
Reproduced with permission of Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency.