Quicker care might have saved Princess Diana
Published 11:30 pm Monday, November 19, 2007
LONDON — Princess Diana might have survived a 1997 car crash if French medics had brought her to a hospital faster, a leading British surgeon told an inquest into her death Monday.
Dr. Thomas Treasure, a former president of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, said the medics did “very substantial good” in the initial period after the accident but that once Diana was in the ambulance, time began “slipping away.”
Dr. Treasure, who was asked to review records of the treatment given to Diana for coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker, conceded the princess’ internal injuries were serious. But he said it was theoretically possible she might have been saved.
Diana died after the Mercedes in which she was riding slammed into a pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris while being pursued by paparazzi on the night of Aug. 31, 1997.
The crash also killed Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul. French and British police have concluded that Paul, the acting security chief at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, was well over the legal alcohol limit when the accident occurred.
Treasure said Diana might have survived if the journey to the hospital had been faster, a specialist team had been on standby at the hospital when she arrived and a surgeon had opened up Diana’s chest from the front rather than the side. He also questioned the large doses of adrenalin given to her at the hospital.
