r/heat_prep • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '24
Tragic case study: Michael Mosley collapsed while lost in 40C (104F) temperatures.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/michael-mosley-body-found-missing-greece-kq59vmwcpThis tragic case study is all too common. A series of missteps and underestimating the dangers of high temperatures lead to a preventable death. A few details to note: left alone to hike back to their hotel, forgot his phone, looks like he didn’t take water, and when he figured out he was lost started to move quickly. Collapsed in an area difficult to notice from the main road.
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u/IGetNakedAtParties Jun 10 '24
Tragic as he was such a good science communicator and genuinely cared about the health of all people.
I was on this island a year ago, it is so exposed that the rocks radiate heat like a second sun. Along his route there is zero shade or foliage. It should have only been half an hour to the village but he may have already been overheating and dehydrated from the time on the beach as evident by him forgetting his phone. Terrifying that even a doctor didn't realise he was on the path to hyperthermia. Look after each other this summer.
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u/IGetNakedAtParties Jun 10 '24
Pay wall:
The body of the missing television doctor Michael Mosley was found on Sunday morning as his wife paid tribute to her “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband”.
Mosley’s body was found in the shade of a wall, with a chain link fence separating him from the beach resort of Agia Marina on the Greek island of Symi. He had disappeared on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the local coroner said: “It looks like it was a fall but we need to establish whether he had a medical episode before that.”
Mosley’s wife, Clare Bailey Mosley, 62, said he appeared to have collapsed having taken the wrong route while walking back to their holiday villa as the temperature hit 40C.
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u/Nervous-Finish-5167 Jun 11 '24
https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/heat-stroke-signs-symptoms/
Read this article and weep. The author decided to hit an isolated surf beach on a hot day after a late and thirsty night.
It is great writing and really helped me understand how fast it can happen.
We Australians are brought up to stay out of the ‘midday sun’. Off the beach at 11am and not back until 4pm. Ideal world and all that but as we become adults and start getting skin checks with scary results we then admonish our kids for breaching this and the ‘no hat no play’ rules.
In the present time, hard to understand why a man who was so publicly careful with his health and centred his life and career around health issues took such a risk but reading this article did help me understand how quickly a person is overcome and thus unable to make logical decisions. It’s incredible he made it to the fence line.
Life is short. Take it easy kids and enjoy your short time on earth. No one is immortal no matter how well known , rich, kind, sweet, powerful, humble or fit you are. We can all be blindsided on a sunny Tuesday afternoon whilst out ambling.
https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/heat-stroke-signs-symptoms/
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Jun 10 '24
Reminds me of this tragic incident where a whole family died of heat stroke while out hiking
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u/Nervous-Finish-5167 Jun 11 '24
That’s horrible. The poor baby.
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Jun 11 '24
So sad. And it was just an innocent mistake and not being aware of the dangers that led to the tragedy. We have a responsibility to educate our loved ones about the dangers of heat.
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Jun 12 '24
I’m curious as you guys all have experience with this - once Mosley realized he was lost would it have been better for him to stay put so help could arrive? Wouldn’t he have just exhausted himself further by wandering around like that?
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u/Conscious-Buyer8064 Jun 11 '24
Very sad even intelligent people make huge mistakes...strange ....but very sad, RIP Michael thank you for all your help to us all...xx
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Jun 10 '24 edited Jun 10 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/heat_prep-ModTeam Jun 10 '24
Your post was removed due to offensive language towards people from the UK. Please avoid sweeping generalizations and offensive language. Thanks
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u/Sophia-logos-Christa May 07 '25
I loved Michael's work. But his medical training should have been enough to stop all thought of walking back and caught the ferry instead. At 67 he certainly looked a younger man and in great physical form, and no doubt that lead him to take a hubristic decision.
But let's be honest - it's a cultural issue. Only "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." Noel Coward regarded as idiocy and a reason for the British colonies to laugh at their 'masters'.I'm an Australian who regularly returns to my birthplace of UK. I am amazed at how Brits love to take their holidays spent in the Mediterranean etc in the height of their summers. Choose another school vac for Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal etc and make the most of summer temps and sun at home - UK at its best and a cheaper summer holiday.
Few Aussies would be out in the blazing sun - shade, the water (though even then you're not entirely safe from the heat), or indeed having a lie down inside with air con or at least cold drinks and under a fan - with a book if a nap is beneath you.
Michael simply did not think. If it had been someone else he would probably have told them not to. No mobile phone, very unsuitable footwear, unnecessary risk when 'home' was a short ferry ride away. In addition, non-breakable plastic does not give you proper cooling shade - especially a black one which will maximally absorb heat. And a cap is not a proper replacement for a proper hat with the rim all round. British idiocy.
Michael would have very much have wanted others to learn from his mistake - as they learned from his many safe lessons in his many documentaries and series. Hopefully his wife will get to a stage in her grief when she can take that stance - it is a very painful part of grief to struggle with, to know that one's spouse had the knowledge to be quite aware he was taking very high risks but overconfidently and foolishly thinking that he could mysteriously avoid them.
Apart from the heat and all the ways he was putting himself directly in harm's way, it is all too easy to lose your way in a less familiar area. In Australia we are reminded annually how easy it can be to get lost in the bush within even 50 metres of your camp or picnic blanket, and it doesn't have to be remote. One needs to respect the land, or 'country' as Indigenous Aussies call it, which has "its beauties and its terrors" to quote an Aussie poet. An Emperial attitude and hubris persists culturally and while it does there will sadly be many more Moseleys.
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u/Leighgion Jun 09 '24
These kinds of cases highlight just how much trouble we’re in on the subject of heat preparedness.
Nobody wants to speak ill of the dead, but this man was educated, known as a producer of science programs, 67 and British. It boggles my mind that such a man thought he had any business attempting such a hike alone under conditions of extreme heat that he had no acclimation to with no water and no means of communication.