STORM2K

Whoa. wwltv.com


Examiner Finds Man Breathing in Morgue

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A medical examiner studying a body in a morgue was startled when the man took a shallow breath. Emergency medical technicians had declared 29-year-old Larry D. Green dead almost two hours earlier, after he was hit by a car.

Medical examiner J.B. Perdue was called to the accident scene Monday but did not examine Green then. Later, he was documenting Green's injuries when he noticed the man was breathing.

"I had to look twice myself just to make sure it was there, that's how subtle it was," Perdue said.

Green, 29, was taken to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, where he was in critical condition Tuesday.

Several members of the Franklin County emergency medical service have been suspended pending an investigation, said Darnell Batton, the county attorney.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Dead wrong!

Dr. Perdue needs to be investigated also, IMO. If he didn't examine the "body" at the accident scene, then *who* pronounced the guy dead in the first place? EMS can't do it, so a physician had to have done it. If he was there and just took the EMS's word for it, then he's in deep doo-doo also.

How's the weather there? If he was cold, he could not have been pronounced dead either. ER saying -- "He's not dead 'til he's warm." Patients exposed to the elements had to be warmed up with heated IV fluids and body warmers while we continued CPR, until they reached a core body temp of at least 96º before they could ever be declared dead.

Some larger EMT services have Doctors in their staff so they might be able to declare a DOA. If not then someone is in some deep s***.

my understanding is it is the medical examiner that has to declare someone dead.