Paramedics wrongly declare a car crash victim dead

PARAMEDICS who declared a car crash victim dead only for the State Emergency Service to later find his pulse will face questioning over the startling bungle.

The 30-year old man who crashed his Porsche early yesterday morning in Bacchus Marsh, on Melbourne's northwest fringe, was being loaded into a coroner's van when it was discovered he was still alive.

Paramedics had earlier assessed him as dead while the man remained trapped in the wreckage.

The Hawthorn man is now in a critical condition in a Melbourne hospital.

Ambulance Victoria regional manager Simon Thomson said an internal inquiry would now probe how the extraordinary mistake occurred.

“Obviously this is a very serious incident and our paramedics are devastated about what's happened,” he told the ABC.

“The paramedics - based on the information they had at the time - said that there were no signs of life, and obviously reflecting on that there has been a mistake.

 

“These are two very experienced paramedics.”

Tow truck operator Trevor Oliver said the man was left hanging upside down in his mangled car for about an hour before being pulled on to the ground and covered in black plastic.

“After a while the police told the SES crews to remove the driver, who at this stage was supposedly deceased, from the vehicle,” Mr Oliver said.

“There was some movement in the vehicle from the person who was trapped.

 

“The SES removed the driver from the vehicle and put him on the ground and covered him in black plastic where he most probably lay for another hour or half hour.

“The coroner's contractor turned up to remove the body and it was when they went to move the body into the coroner's van that they noticed that the driver had a very weak pulse.”

Mr Oliver said it was at least two hours after the accident before the man's pulse was discovered.