Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter", Dead At 44

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by Sims Katie

Yeah, they had to look at it.

"Queensland state police were holding the tape as evidence for a coroner?s inquiry ? a standard procedure in high-profile deaths or those caused by other than natural causes." - Associated Press

I read an account this morning of what is on the tape, and it is really disturbing-disturbing in the fact that had ONE thing NOT happened, Steve might still be alive.

He was fully concious and climbed back into the boat on his own power following being speared in the chest. He knew he had taken a hit to the chest, but apparently did not realize how bad. He spotted the barb sticking out of his chest and did what most people would have done, but what is actually the worst thing to do in such a case-he pulled it out himself. He promptly lost conciousness and fell. Had he left the barb in place and remained very still, there is a possibility that even with the barb lodged in his heart, he could have been gotten into surgery and been saved, since the helicopter was already en route to pick him up. Having been trained as a first responder myself, one of the things we are taught is that is a person has a foreign object lodged in or embedded in their body, especially a sharp projectile, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE IT! Leave it in place, and stablize it with pressure bandages and keep the person as still as possible; let the surgeons deal with removing it in the hospital OR. People HAVE survived objects through the heart; I have seen a news broadcast of a woman in Oklahoma City who had a large shard of glass right through her chest following a tornado, who survived because the ER people knew not to try to move it. The glass shard had pierced her heart, too, and one lung, but she lived. Often, the object itself will block off arterial bleeding, or it may be lodged in such as way that to pull on it will sever an artery. There is a chance that Steve Irwin would still be alive if he'd left the barb in place, but he probably did not realize the seriousness of the situation, and thought that it was only embedded in muscle outside the chest.

pitbulllady