ABSTRACT
Damage to the body from changes in external pressure usually lies in the province of specialized occupational or armed services medicine, rather than that of the forensic pathologist. The major exception is recreational and sporting diving, using SCUBA (selfcontained underwater breathing apparatus) equipment developed from the open-circuit breathing apparatus, the ‘aqua-lung’, designed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan in the French Navy in 1943.1 When death occurs in such circumstances, however, though criminality is rarely a factor, there is usually some form of official enquiry, be it quasi-judicial or an internal investigation. Civil suits for compensation may arise and in these circumstances a forensic pathologist may well become involved as the expert witness providing the autopsy evidence.
