Was There Time To Save Diana?

New Relevations On The 10th Anniversary Of Princess' Death Raise Questions

(CBS)  Glamorized in life, Princess Diana continues to be scrutinized 10 years after her death.

An early-morning traffic accident in a Paris tunnel killed Diana's companion, Dodi Al-Fayed, and the driver of their car. But Diana was conscious after the accident and did not appear to be seriously hurt. In truth, she was bleeding internally.

Had the accident occurred in the United States, Diana would have been rushed to a hospital. However, the French have a different system: They first try to stabilize the patient at the scene. Still, as CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty reports, that difference doesn't explain the series of missteps and delays in Diana's medical care that experts say never should have happened.

"My first reaction was this is not what should be expected of emergency medical services for anybody in this type of circumstance," says Chicago's Dr. Stanley Zydlo, a pioneer of emergency medical care in the U.S.

Zydlo and three other emergency medicine specialists analyzed a 40-page French accident report obtained by CBS News. All four agreed that mistakes were made.

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Diana: Remembering A Princess

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"Yes, with hindsight, they probably would have done it differently, I suspect," says Dr. Annie McGuinness of London.

At 12:32 a.m. on Aug. 31, 1997, rescue workers arriving at the scene find Diana conscious, but agitated.

At 12:45 a.m., a French doctor arrives. Not initially recognizing the extent of her injuries, he gives Diana Hypnovel and Fentanyl - a combination of drugs that calmed her down, but is also known to sometimes cause heart and respiratory problems.

"Do you believe that these sedatives could actually have aggravated her situation?" asks Moriarty.

"The word is 'could have.' Yes, they could have," says Zydlo.

Time is lost as rescuers remove an already dead Al-Fayed from the car first.

When emergency workers ask to take Diana to a hospital just four miles away, it takes another 10 minutes for the hospital to agree. It is now 1:29 a.m.

"They should have had a receiving hospital before they were ready to leave the scene, given that they had already spent nearly an hour on the scene," says McGuinness.

Even more time is lost as the doctor orders the ambulance to drive slowly for fear of aggravating Diana's condition.

The result: Diana doesn't arrive at the hospital until 2:06 a.m. - nearly two hours after the accident.

All told, Zydlo estimates 70 minutes were lost by bad decisions.

How crucial is that time in an injury like Diana's?

"Anybody that's bleeding has to have the bleeding stopped as soon as possible," Zydlo said.

Diana is pronounced dead at 4 a.m.

Could she have been saved?

McGuinness believes Diana was too badly injured. Zydlo says we'll never know.

"I can't say she definitely would have survived, but it certainly took away all of her chances," Zydlo said.

No official from the French emergency system would comment on Princess Diana's treatment for this report - but in 2002, five years after her accident, the French emergency guidelines were changed. Today, a patient with the same the unstable blood pressure would be rushed to a hospital.

[extremophil]

Ohhhhhhhh...Sooo much more could have been done to save her! Her death was all our fault, JFKs death was our fault too. Vietnam, WW II, 911, it''s all our fault. I hate myself (sniff), why did I have to be born a sinful human.....sob sob.

[socrates392]

What is the point to this article? She''s been dead for ten years, let it go. If the French didn''t change their medical practices then, they certainly aren''t going to change them now. So what is the point of this?

It''s all a morbid waste of time.

[gramto7]

The bottom line is, had she been at home with her sons instead of w*horing around Paris with Dooooodi, she''''d still be alive. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Posted by infidel_us

If Charles hadn''t been tomcatting around with Camilla, Diana would have still been married to him and wouldn''t have been with "Dooooodi"!

[virginiamayclark]

If the media scrutiny about Diana''s death contributed to an improvement in emergency care in France, then the publicity given to this case has undoubtedly saved the lives of many Parisians.

[oakishpines]

'''' ... more nerf buses, less rolling coffins no one (too short too tall too young too old too injured too nervous) wants to drive anyway ... ''''

'''' ... when i was like six or seven, i was dancing in some field with a bunch of folk (rallyd round sick beds playing get well feed world), and some girl was dancing through the crowd, claiming ''''tax the world is feed the world'''', and promising to rid the world of naked folk and ignorant folk and lazy profane blemished folk, and to replace all the free food and free medicine crowds with free gun and free bomb buttons, and, when she touched my hand, i felt all warm and fuzzy inside, and ive always wondered what happened to her ... i wonder if shes still out there somewhere, conquering folk like me ... i sooo hope so ... ''''

'''' ... she''''d let the dog free and the parrot too, and give up on having to feed the cats, and just hike away forever, but theres no get well feed world folk there, only get sick tax world: and theres nothing they wont do to keep her in her clothes and in her chair ... ''''

'''' ... lots of folk say they hate heteros and homos, but lots of folk say they dont want to get chewed up and spit out and put back together by a dinosaur, but almost everyone has done it, and almost everyone will do it again ... ''''

[emma915]

". . .five years after her accident, the French emergency guidelines were changed. Today, a patient with the same unstable blood pressure would be rushed to a hospital." So, even in dying, Diana saves others. The ruckus over the whole thing has done some good by helping those who might have died the same way, but who now will have a chance to be saved.

[oleander8]

"Was There Time To Save Diana?"

Why even go there? She''s dead. Ten years dead. You could ask the same question 20 years from now and her injuries might not even be considered life-threatening.

[infidel_us]

Vive La France!
Posted by mick7744 at 05:22 AM : Aug 31, 2007

The bottom line is, had she been at home with her sons instead of w*horing around Paris with Dooooodi, she''d still be alive. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[infidel_us]

There was, but Bush, under orders from Rove, made a phone call to Buckingham Palace and told the Queen to call Jacques Cousteau and have teh paramedics break off CPR. See, it''s the military industrial complex - you wouldn''t understand it.

[mldugan2]

The only thing this story does is bring pain to her children - the boys do NOT need this!

And the same kinds of questions and answers have been said over countless othere "needless" deaths over the years, like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and others. Where does good journalism start and where does it stop?

And yes, the "bottom feeders" will always be "bottom feeders" because they do not have it in themselves to be better or do better - they are controlled by something other than the desire to do a good job and provide quality work.