Report: North Carolina Paramedics, Doctor Made Mistakes in False-Death Case

LOUISBURG, N.C. (AP) -- Paramedics and the county medical examiner all made mistakes when they declared a man dead when he was not, according to county report.

Larry D. Green, 29, of Louisburg was pronounced dead at the scene of the Jan. 24 accident at the intersection of U.S. 401 and N.C. 39. Two hours later, a medical examiner at the county morgue discovered he was still breathing.

Green remained in critical condition Monday at Duke University Medical Center in Durham.

The report states that at least twice on the night of Jan. 24, paramedics told a doctor they thought Green might be alive.

Still, medical officials made no efforts to resuscitate him and instead, sent him to the morgue, according to a report released Monday by Franklin County commissioners. It was more than two hours after he was hit by a car that it was determined he was alive and Green, 29, was taken to a medical facility.

The N.C. Office of Emergency Medical Service suspended the licenses of two paramedics, Wade R. Kearney II of Henderson and Paul Kilmer of Louisburg for EMS rules violations, and Franklin County fired them.

Also, a report on the county's investigation will be provided to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for review and any action that office deems appropriate against Franklin County Medical Examiner J.B. Perdue.

Franklin County Attorney Darnell Batton read the eight-page report to the crowd of more than 100 who had waited Monday night through a two-hour closed meeting between Batton and the commissioners.

Green's father, Larry Alston Green, said that while attending the meeting was difficult, he felt he had a duty to his son to hear the report. ``He still has a long way to recover,'' the elder Green said.

The report issued Monday said Kearney arrived first at 8:54 p.m. with two firefighters and found no pulse and a clear airway with the absence of breath. Green appeared to have suffered significant head trauma.

When a second EMS unit arrived, Kearney told the two paramedics, Kilmer and Katherine Lamell, both paramedics with Franklin County, that Green was dead. Kearney told Kilmer he could not locate Green's pulse and asked Kilmer to verify the absence of a pulse.

Kilmer responded, according to firefighters at the scene, ``that was good enough for me.''

They did not use a cardiac monitor or stethoscope that were in the ambulance, the report said. When more emergency workers arrived, Kearney and Kilmer repeated that Green was dead, and those rescuers did not evaluate Green.

When Perdue arrived and examined Green, one of the things he did was expose Green's chest. At that point, several firefighters and Kilmer observed what appeared to be movements in Green's chest and abdomen. Upon seeing these movements, the firefighters and Kilmer heard Kearney ask Perdue whether Green was breathing.

Perdue told the paramedic that the movement ``was only air escaping the body that had been turned over,'' according to the report.

At the morgue, Perdue checked Green's body for a second examination. ``According to (paramedic) Pam Hayes during the second examination, the right upper eye lid of Mr. Green twitched several times,'' the report states.

Hayes asked the doctor if Green was dead and Perdue responded that it was a muscle spasm, according to the report.

Moments later, Hayes went out to the ambulance and told a fellow paramedic: ``I don't feel good about this.''

Hayes went inside and asked Perdue for a second time if he was sure Green was dead. ``Even after the second assurance was offered to Hayes, she now reports that she never felt comfortable leaving (Green),'' the report states.

State Highway Patrol Trooper T.L. Hunt arrived at the morgue at 11:23 p.m. and asked the medical examiner for his opinion on how the automobile struck Green. Perdue began a third examination of Green.