There’s a timeframe within which intervention can save a person’s life even after their heart has stopped.
At this point I don’t really care whether Fuddy could have been saved or not. If things happened the way we were told (and that’s a big if), then the CG swimmer wouldn’t have been able to save her. BUT HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT. He was supposed to act according to the protocols.
We deserve to know why he didn’t follow the protocols, yet announced to the whole world that he actually had - knowing all the other folks in the Coast Guard would know that he didn’t.
I suppose in a practical sense, it all depends if we believe the man was capable of telling if the woman was dead or not. I’m a little anti-protocols, in an emergency quite often common sense works a whole lot better.
I’m also pretty sure he’s been grilled and asked to describe exactly what he found and why he acted the way he did.