This man is delusional. What happened to him was not an "accident" - it was the reasonably forseeable outcome of an obviously self-destructive act. Human physiology cannot withstand unprotected immersion at these depths (and the wild descent and ascent),and this is not changed by doing under the guise of "setting a record".

He should have had the proper appreciation for having developed the enviable ability to enjoy snorkeling at reasonable depths for ten minutes. Instead, he engaged in irresponsible, uncontrolled, and unethical self-experimentation. The people who "aided" him in this should be charged.

This reminded me of an old (1980s) Saturday Night Live piece, a short mockumentary film about the pre-WWI sport of "Balkan Dirt Diving". It consisted of the "competitors" diving off of a high platform - straight into the ground. If you got up at the end of the jump, you were given the opportunity to jump again from a greater height. When all but one competitor was dead, he was declared the "winner". It's a hilarious bit, right up until you forget it's a joke and create an organization to sanction similar attempts and hand out records.

Most of all, I'm shocked and disgusted that major sponsors such as Canon, Breitling, and Red Bull would enable such folly. "Extreme sports" are one thing; this is a thinly-veiled suicide attempt.

What a strange culture we inhabit. A man who subjects his body to a very dangerous depletion of oxygen during a tank-free deep-sea dive ends up suffering brain damage. And everyone interviewed acts surprised?

This film mostly follows along the diver´s convalescence and what is depicted as post-¨accident¨ therapy. But how was this an accident? If I decided that i could fly without any sort of wings or other gear and jumped off a skyscraper, wouldn´t that just count as a crazy person´s suicide? Wouldn´t my blood be checked in an autopsy for traces of judgment-compromising drugs?

In Nitsch´s case, everyone acts as though somehow this was an unexpected misfortune beyond his control. I find it not admirable but sad that a human being should knowingly risk his health and well-being, and transform himself into a disabled person by his own choice to do what is manifestly dangerous only because he wanted to be ¨the best¨ at something. Let us be perfectly frank: this is like taking a selfie on a cliff and tumbling to one´s death seconds later.

I hereby nominate apnea diving for top contender for the Darwin Awards. I am sorry that Mr. Nitsch lost a significant number of brain cells, but he is not the first person to have suffered a severe stroke, just one of the few to inflict it upon himself in a quest for some dubious notion of ¨success¨.

What a strange culture we inhabit. A man who subjects his body to a very dangerous depletion of oxygen during a tank-free deep-sea dive ends up suffering brain damage. And everyone interviewed acts surprised?

This film mostly follows along the diver´s convalescence and what is depicted as post-¨accident¨ therapy. But how was this an accident? If I decided that i could fly without any sort of wings or other gear and jumped off a skyscraper, wouldn´t that just count as a crazy person´s suicide? Wouldn´t my blood be checked in an autopsy for traces of judgment-compromising drugs?

In Nitsch´s case, everyone acts as though somehow this was an unexpected misfortune beyond his control. I find it not admirable but sad that a human being would knowingly risk his health and well-being, and transform himself into a disabled person by his own choice to do what is manifestly dangerous only because he wanted to be ¨the best¨ at something. Let us be perfectly frank: this is like taking a selfie on a cliff and tumbling to one´s death seconds later.

I hereby nominate apnea diving for top contender for the Darwin Awards. I am sorry that Mr. Nitsch lost a significant number of brain cells, but he is not the first person to have had a severe stroke, just one of the few to inflict it upon himself in a quest for some dubious notion of ¨success¨.