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A Porsche driver is fighting for his life in hospital after being wrongly declared dead by paramedics at the scene of a car crash.
The 30-year-old man from Melbourne in Australia was about to be taken to the morgue when it was noticed he still had a pulse. Voluntary emergency workers saw the man twitch and shudder while inside the wreck, but were told this was normal for somebody with spinal injuries.
Trevor Oliver, a tow-truck driver at the crash scene, said the man was left in his sports car for about an hour before being wrapped in tarpaulin and lowered onto the ground, during which time his feet could be seen moving. It was only when the man was being lifted into a coroner's van that a pulse was detected - about two hours after Mr Oliver had arrived at the crash site.
Volunteers from the State Emergency Service (SES) had mentioned the driver's movement to paramedics, who assured them he was dead. Mr Oliver said: 'It was only when the coroner's representative turned up to pick up the body and the SES and the coroner's representative went to pick up the body and they noticed that something was odd and [discovered] he still had a very weak pulse.'
The man was hurt yesterday when his vehicle collided with a four-wheel drive vehicle and flipped north-west of Melbourne at about 2am local time. He was declared dead by two paramedics after they couldn't find a pulse or any sign he was breathing.
But Lachlan Quick, spokesman for the SES, said the voluntary workers had been concerned the man was not dead before they removed him from the wreckage. He told the Australian Associated Press: 'They mentioned it to the ambulance guys, who said that it (movement) can be attributed to this sort of effect when there's a spinal injury.
'It was raised and addressed and discussed and then put to one side and they went about their business.' The driver is now battling to survive at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, while a probe has been launched into the blunder headed by Professor Russell Gruen, director of trauma at The Alfred Hospital in Prahan, Victoria.
Simon Thomson, regional manager of Ambulance Victoria, said the paramedics who had wrongly declared the man dead were highly experienced. He said they were both traumatised by the incident, Australia's ninemsn news service reported this morning.
'Paramedics use a process to assess whether someone has died or not. 'We're not clear of the exact circumstances on this occasion.'
The 30-year-old man from Melbourne in Australia was about to be taken to the morgue when it was noticed he still had a pulse. Voluntary emergency workers saw the man twitch and shudder while inside the wreck, but were told this was normal for somebody with spinal injuries.
Trevor Oliver, a tow-truck driver at the crash scene, said the man was left in his sports car for about an hour before being wrapped in tarpaulin and lowered onto the ground, during which time his feet could be seen moving. It was only when the man was being lifted into a coroner's van that a pulse was detected - about two hours after Mr Oliver had arrived at the crash site.
Volunteers from the State Emergency Service (SES) had mentioned the driver's movement to paramedics, who assured them he was dead. Mr Oliver said: 'It was only when the coroner's representative turned up to pick up the body and the SES and the coroner's representative went to pick up the body and they noticed that something was odd and [discovered] he still had a very weak pulse.'
The man was hurt yesterday when his vehicle collided with a four-wheel drive vehicle and flipped north-west of Melbourne at about 2am local time. He was declared dead by two paramedics after they couldn't find a pulse or any sign he was breathing.
But Lachlan Quick, spokesman for the SES, said the voluntary workers had been concerned the man was not dead before they removed him from the wreckage. He told the Australian Associated Press: 'They mentioned it to the ambulance guys, who said that it (movement) can be attributed to this sort of effect when there's a spinal injury.
'It was raised and addressed and discussed and then put to one side and they went about their business.' The driver is now battling to survive at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, while a probe has been launched into the blunder headed by Professor Russell Gruen, director of trauma at The Alfred Hospital in Prahan, Victoria.
Simon Thomson, regional manager of Ambulance Victoria, said the paramedics who had wrongly declared the man dead were highly experienced. He said they were both traumatised by the incident, Australia's ninemsn news service reported this morning.
'Paramedics use a process to assess whether someone has died or not. 'We're not clear of the exact circumstances on this occasion.'
