Di could have been alive
2001-03-11 09:31
London - A leading heart surgeon has
said that Britain's Princess Diana could have been saved if she
had been rushed to hospital quicker.
Christiaan Barnard, who was a friend of the Princess of
Wales, writes in a new book that she could have been saved if
she had reached hospital within 10 minutes of the 1997
high-speed car crash in Paris, the Sunday Telegraph said.
"My opinion is that they made a mistake not rushing her to
hospital quicker because her bleeding could only be stopped by
surgery," said pioneering surgeon Barnard in his book "50 Ways
To A Healthy Heart", which is to be published in May.
"I understand they spent up to an hour at the scene of the
accident," he said.
Barnard, based in South Africa, said according to the autopsy Diana died of internal bleeding as the result of injury
to the pulmonary vein. He said such an injury would not lead to
rapid loss of blood.
"What I want to say here is, that, if Princess Diana had
been brought to hospital within 10 minutes of the accident -
something which should easily have been possible - and once
there, had been cared for properly, she could have survived."
Diana's companion Dodi Al Fayed and their driver Henri Paul also died in the crash. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived.
The Telegraph quoted a French doctor, who arrived quickly
on the scene as he had been travelling in the opposite
direction at the time of the crash, as saying Diana was in the
best shape of the four.
Frederic Maillez said Diana had "looked pretty fine...I thought this woman had a chance."
An official French inquiry found that the accident was the
result of "loss of control", the speed of the vehicle and
alcohol.