Hotel Hot Tub Warning

[drewstar]

 Dad Breathes Air Into Son Trapped Underwater For 7 Minutes

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 14-year-old who was sucked to the bottom of a hotel hot tub and kept under water for at least seven minutes was likely saved by air his father breathed into his mouth during the ordeal.

Aljuwon Pipkin, who was visiting Walt Disney World from New Jersey, became stuck at the bottom of the hot tub last Thursday at the Radisson Parkway Hotel.

Officials said a grate at the bottom of the tub apparently broke and created a strong suction that pulled the teen underwater.


Pipkin's father was at the pool and noticed his son stuck at the bottom of the hot tub.

"I get chills now even speaking about it," father Sharif Pipkin said. "I was truly a traumatic moment. I figured he was at the bottom and they just couldn't pull him up and then he didn't come up. And, I pulled again and he didn't come up. I began to holler for help from people."

As people jumped in to pull the teen from the bottom of the tub, Pipkin's father jumped in and began to breathe air into his son's mouth, the report said.

"(Aljuwon Pipkin) doesn't remember the frantic help from hotel guests and doesn't remember his father breathing into his mouth underwater," Local 6 reporter Jessica Sanchez said.

Pipkin was transported to Florida Hospital South in critical condition and initial scans of his brain were abnormal. Doctors feared he suffered brain damage.

However, seven days after the near drowning, Pipkin was given the OK to leave the hospital. He was diagnosed as being healthy with no permanent damage from the incident.

"The fact that he woke up at all is being considered a miracle," Sanchez said.

"I just remember going down to the pool and then waking up in the hospital," Pipkin said. "I can appreciate life more," Aljuwon Pipkin said. "It makes you want to work harder for things."

Pipkin's family said they do not blame the Radisson Hotel and said they believe what happened was an accident, the report said.

Previous Stories:

   * July 15, 2006: Boy Critical After Sucked To Bottom Of Hot Tub



<b>http://www.local6.com/news/9554448/detail.html</B>

[orlandoguy]

A couple years ago, a tourist was electrocuted by a loose wire in the lighting inside a hot tub in a hotel here too.  He was an important executive on convention and was rendered a spastic parapalegic.  It was very sad to hear about.

[wmccall]

Pipkin's family said they do not blame the Radisson Hotel and said they believe what happened was an accident, the report said.

But then the lawyers started calling  

Its hard to imagine a spa with enough suction to drag down a teen.  I wonder if he put his head underwater of his own accord.   No heads under water in my tub.

[drewstar]

I thought the father doing the rescue breathing was very quick thinking. Something to remember,

And the story is a very good example of why you need the power shut off easly accessable.

Better yet, dont use tubs with a single intake on the bottom.

[Mendocino101]

I think it also points out to why a portable unit can much safer as it is built to the same standards over and over again...when you do an in-ground it is a custom built and maybe things get passed thu or not noticed....with the portable units they keep making them the same way each time...some better than others....

[drewstar]

They are still building shallow pools with center bottom intakes.  (my brother in law was giving me a hard time that I didn't put one in on my cheap assed pool). Some buiilders are pushing them as a great convience and better clean up and filtering (no need to vacuum as much).

Grrrrrr.

[HotTubMan]

The standards the portable spa industry has adopted do not allow for this kind of problem.

Every hot tub is designed so that a pump is fed water by more than one intake. This way if one gets clogged, there is not excessive suction holding a limb or hair in place.

This why you see those nasty "by-pass" grates in footwells and why HS has several filters in their system.

A typical single pump tub has a skimmer. Water enters here on low speed. When the pump is on high speed, water enters through a suction in the footwell. If the tub has 2 pumps, there are likely two more suctions in the footwell.

Chas, Term, I realize your design is different. It is protected against this issue by using multiple filters and therefore intakes to the filters.

[Vinny]

That actually happened here in Jersey to a girl on her prom years ago. I believe they passed a law to have all commercial tubs retrofitted to a suction break device.

As far as portable spas go ... Artesian has specific warnings (probably they all do) about using the spa without those suction guards on them - my tub has 5 suction inlets on the bottom of the tub. Each suction inlet is protected by a guard that has to be at least 4" round and 1 1/2" deep. I can't see anything getting caught in them.

drewstar, tell your brother in law to try getting his head stuck in your skimmer basket! Actually buy an auto pool cleaner - it saves a lot of time!

[gores95]

This is one of the issues that my wife and I looked carefully at as we are in the market for a new tub.  We have two girls turning 3 and 9 later this year and were concerned about long hair getting caught in the suction.  We were told that the spas that are built into pools have much more suction than portable spas but still no heads allowed under water and pony tails for all girls will be the hard and fast rules!

Also how does one breathe air to a trapped person underwater?  I know we breathe out carbon dioxide so wouldn't this be detrimental to a trapped person underwater?  Now if you had a snorkel that would probably help...

Marc

[Razzman]

drewstar, tell your brother in law to try getting his head stuck in your skimmer basket! Actually buy an auto pool cleaner - it saves a lot of time!

Hey i can attest to that automatic cleaner! I just replaced my old one which was ten years old with a new Baracuda G4, WOW! I though my old one was good, this thing rocks! One moving part is all! For the record, I've never vacuumed my pool in the ten years since it was built! In fact I don't even have any vacuum attachments!

[East_TX_Spa]

Also how does one breathe air to a trapped person underwater?  I know we breathe out carbon dioxide so wouldn't this be detrimental to a trapped person underwater?  Now if you had a snorkel that would probably help...

Marc

We also exhale a large amount of oxygen.  That is why CPR is effective, which is basically what the father was engaged in.  Great display of critical reaction on his part!

Terminator

[Zep]

[HotTubMan]

UMMM, OK

[drewstar]

Razzman,  vinny,

I do have an automatic pool cleaner. She's great!   (actually my F-I-L loves to vacuum pools. Really. He's sold his house and misses the pool, he'll come by and just sit in the pool with the vacuum and spend all day just leirusyel vacuuming the pool. He real gets into it....hey...what ever floats your boat, it's fine with me.

PErsonaly, I don't care for the floating hoses and bots on the bottom of the pool. But then again, I don't have a large, or deep pool.  If I had somehting bigger I think I'd opt for a unit, but with a  21' agp an auto cleaner is just over kill.  

[wmccall]

This is one of the issues that my wife and I looked carefully at as we are in the market for a new tub.  We have two girls turning 3 and 9 later this year and were concerned about long hair getting caught in the suction.  We were told that the spas that are built into pools have much more suction than portable spas but still no heads allowed under water and pony tails for all girls will be the hard and fast rules!

Also how does one breathe air to a trapped person underwater?  I know we breathe out carbon dioxide so wouldn't this be detrimental to a trapped person underwater?  Now if you had a snorkel that would probably help...

Marc

Yea a snorkle if it is long enough would help.   But out bodies are not totally efficent and using all the oxygen we breath in, there is still plenty, pluse the CO2.