Re: BBC - Teenager electrocuted on railway

On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:18:58 -0000, "Adrian Clarkson"
<adrian_clarkson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


<john.porter1960@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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On 2 Jan, 11:22, "MB" <m...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<abiga...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

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On Jan 1, 7:22 pm, Chris <chrisjba...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Awful English though!

"A 16-year-old boy has died from electrocution after being found on a
railway line in West Sussex. "

So he was electrocuted after being found on the line?.......I think he
was dead first!

The sentence says he 'died from electrocution' after being found, not
that the electrocution happened after the finding.

Since the rest of the report indicates he was taken to hospital and
pronounced dead there, it is possible he didn't die immediately. :-(

=====================

Perhaps just that he had not been formally certified dead, the ambulance
crew might have decided to get him to hospital as quickly in possibly in
case he could be revived particularly if it was fairly near. If certified
dead at the scene then they probably would not be allowed to move the body
(do they need a doctor to legally certify dead?).

It certainly had to be a doctor to certify death even if it was a
decapitated body when I last dealt with such things at RTAs. But there
was a suggestion that the rules were to be changed so that other
medical professionals could make the declaration, if there was such
dismemberment that death had clearly occurred. (in reality this meant
decapitation) That was about 9 years ago. If death had occurred
bodies could not be carried in an ambulance and it meant a doctor had
to be called to the scene, even if it was plainly obvious it the
victim was dead. A waste of effort and more importantly the time of a
doctor and everyone else involved.

Using an ambulance to transport a body is also an inappropriate use as
it leaves the vehicle unavailable for its proper use until the task
(plus extra paperwork and cleaning) has been completed. That job
belongs to Coroners and undertakers.

Obviously if there was a chance the
person would survive every effort was made to get the victim to a
fully equipped A&E department, but with a headless body it was
pointless. In the case of electrocution I would imagine any ambulance
crew called to the scene would have been trying to revive the victim
continuously all the way to A&E, and the life saving effort continued
well after that. I've seen some amazing things achieved by doctors and
ambulance crews at road accidents where both police and firecrews
present inwardly thought it was impossible for the victim to survive.
Of course their work is only mentioned in the press where things go
wrong.


It has not been necessary now for several years for a Doctor to be present
to confirm that life is extinct. However only Doctors can certify death ie
write the death certificate. These are two separate processes.

Adrian (Dr)

.

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