KEY POINTS:
A scuba diver suspected of suffering from the bends died after emergency services drove him to hospital rather than immediately airlifting him out.
Police and the coroner are investigating the death of James Gerrard Aperahama, who suffered a fatal brain embolism after scuba diving off the west coast of Auckland two weeks ago.
Aperahama was diving off Whatipu, near the Manukau Harbour entrance, when his breathing apparatus malfunctioned and he was forced to surface quickly - causing him to suffer from decompression sickness, or "the bends".
His diving companions took him to nearby Huia, where the volunteer fire brigade responded within minutes. But the St John ambulance drove him to North Shore Hospital - 40km away which took 48 minutes - instead of flying him by helicopter straight to the hyperbaric chamber at Devonport Navy Base.
The 46-year-old then had to wait for an hour and 15 minutes to use the chamber and suffered a brain embolism during the six hours of treatment overnight.
Aperahama died the next day surrounded by his family when life support was switched off.
A St John spokeswoman said flying can worsen a bends patient and the Westpac Rescue helicopter was on another mission at the time of the callout. Aperahama arrived at hospital 48 minutes later alert and conscious, she said.
However, St John sources told the Herald on Sunday that treating "the bends" is time critical and that victims of diving accidents should be flown directly to the Navy Base, normally under 1000ft.
If the Auckland helicopter was unavailable, the source said Waikato could be called.
Senior Constable Paul Herman confirmed police were investigating why Aperahama was driven to North Shore Hospital and then the Navy base, a further 8km away, instead of being flown. "That's something we're looking into. Was time a factor in getting him treatment at the hospital? Certainly it's a long way to drive."
Key to the police inquiry was locating Aperahama's lost diving gear, which may have been faulty. It was possible it had been shifted by strong currents or taken by other divers.
"We brought the national dive squad in this week, but we couldn't find the missing gear. We need to find out what went wrong to give the family answers," Herman said.
Barney Aperahama questioned why St John decided to drive his brother to hospital instead of flying directly to the Navy base, but said the family were not blaming anyone for his death.
"St John are amazing and they did the best they could. But you sort of wonder, sometimes, why they didn't just fly him straight to the chamber.
"We just hope the standard is lifted from this lesson, this tragic accident, but we don't hold any blame."
Barney Aperahama described his brother as an "amazing man", full of mana. "It's been nearly two weeks and most of us are shocked we could cry for that long.
"The tragedy for us is that we didn't spend enough time together. It's times like this that you think we're never going to see him again."
An experienced diver who knew the murky Whatipu waters "like the back of his hand" and didn't take risks, James Aperahama was forced to swim to the surface for air when his breathing gear malfunctioned.
Six hours of recompression treatment failed and the air embolism reached his brain by Monday morning.
"He was brain dead, there was huge damage," Barney Aperahama said. "We didn't want to pull him off the machine, so we asked the doctors to do the checks twice, but we had to make a decision."
James' tangi was held at the Waikeri Marae in Ngaruawahia and his body was buried at nearby Taupiri Mountain.
