ABSTRACT
Despite heightened efforts at education and advances in medical care, water-related injury remains a significant cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Affecting all age groups, drowning is responsible for up to 8000 lives lost in the United States annually and several hundred thousand deaths worldwide (1,2). The burden on today’s healthcare resources is significant. This challenge becomes further magnified as current medical technology has, subsequently, brought to light increasing complications in those critically ill victims who would not previously have survived.
