20/11/2007

Dying Princess Sedated By Crash Medics

A dying Princess Diana had to be sedated to allow medics to continue their desperate attempts to save her life.

Diana, Princess of Wales was so agitated as doctors treated her in the wreck of her car in Paris that she tore out a drip they tried to insert, her inquest heard.

They had to restrain and sedate the Princess, who was shouting and thrashing her arm around, before they could get her out of the mangled vehicle.

Dr Jean-Marc Martino, an emergency specialist, recalled Diana "shouting and saying things in English which were comprehensible yet incoherent", the court was told.

The inquest also heard that the nature of the extremely rare injuries she suffered suggested Diana's heart had been thrown forward violently inside her chest during the crash.

Professor Andre Lienhart, who later investigated all aspects of her treatment for a French investigating magistrate, told the inquest of Dr Martino's account.

He said an assistant had to hold the Princess's arm by force to get a drip in but she quickly pulled it out.

"That's true," he said. "Due to the agitation, the first line, the first drip was removed."

Speaking by video link from Paris, he added: "She was agitated, she refused treatment ... he decided to inject some drugs to reduce the agitation, for her to accept treatment."

(BMcC)

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