Who must be contacted regarding the medical care..

[Mike T]

As an emergency medical specialist I must be frank. I was desperately appalled by the nonchalant medical care Marc-Vivien Foe received during those early critical minutes we witnesses on LIVE TV.

I hate to be critical, but anyone with a hint of knowledge regarding basic life support could point out the obvious. The only thing they did correctly in the few critical early minutes they had was opening the airway (that was the plastic mouthpiece-oral airway- they placed...it was not a tube.) But forgot the rest. After reviewing the videotape it does not appear that Foe was properly assessed for impending sudden Cardiopulmonary failure until probably well after 5 golden minutes, a time essential for survivability. What I observed was an unconscious person placed with an oral airway yet never given bag-valve respiration with supplemental oxygen nor assessed for vascular collapse. It was a total sideshow. I could only wish I could somehow be there to direct the medical personnel.

All that was seen at 5 minutes of unconsciousness was 4 men caring a man in probable sudden cardiac death down the sidelines without any cardio-respiratory support what-so-ever...Incredible incompetence and sad beyond belief.

Paramedics should have been called the second the Foe was noted to be unconscious on the field, and certainly by the time he was placed on the sideline. What did they do on the sideline for 5-7 minutes then only to pick him up again like a pile of bricks to place him somewhere else.. that was abominable.

Then in the papers I read he received CPR. Yea, probably only well after those precious 5-7 minutes had elapsed where the chances for recovery are optimal. Even then their mode of CPR was mouth-to-mouth which may certainly help if it had been done immediately and by laymen bystanders. But this was coordinated by paramedical personnel under the supervision of a physician. The first critical flaw was the obvious waste of critical time then the fact that they did not have proper medical equipment. ???Why must they resort to mouth-to-mouth if they should be equipped with pulmonary(bag-valve mask or intubation kits with supplemental oxygenation) and vascular (IV access) fluid resuscitation. And/or if they were not properly equipped then why did they not start basic CPR right there on the sideline and call for paramedics immediately. The fact that Foe may have not been breathing on his own even for 2-3 extra minutes as the picked him up yet again to move him may have contributed to an eventual fatally unresuscitable cardiac arrhythmia and death.

Its easy for stadium/EMS authorities to say they did everything they could do for 45 minutes when they did practically nothing during those highly critical first 5-10 minutes. Surely no-one could survive that amount of time without proper and TIMELY treatment. What makes it even more sad is that with Foe's physical fitness he probably stood an even better chance of recovery had they diagnosed and treated a sudden cardiorespiratory arrest in a timely fashion.

I want to ask anyone that might know. How or who must I contact in France or thru Fifa so that such a tragedy never occurs again?

[Gary V]

I am copying this from another board. No source for this information was provided in that posting.

Here is the link: http://www.ariellemiller.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=mainboard&Number=31884&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=2&vc=1


The following statement gives a chronological account of what happened in the stadium Gerland in Lyons. More details on the exact cause of death will be released as a result of an autopsy in the coming days.

The following report was made by the FIFA Delegation in charge of the venue of Lyons: General Coordinator Henny Smorenburg (Netherlands), Medical Officer Dr Alfred Müller (Switzerland) and Media Officer Pedro Salazar-Hewitt (Chile).

Time 0’00 (72 min. of the match)- Moving alone in midfield, the player collapses onto the pitch for no apparent reason.

Time 0’05 - A player from the Colombian team signals urgently to the referee for medical assistance and immediately proceeds with the right treatment (lifting the player’s chin to facilitate breathing). The player concerned is still visibly breathing. His eyes are rolled back so that only the whites are visible. This may be the sign of the beginning of coma.

The Cameroon team doctor takes over by continuing treatment to facilitate the player’s breathing.

Time 2’00 - The player is carried off the field of play on a stretcher and treatment is continued beside the touchline.

Time 3’20 - The player receives additional assistance from a local French doctor.

Time 5’15 - The player is taken to the first-aid station in the stadium. In order to stabilise the player’s condition the head French doctor present takes the decision to keep the player in the first aid station instead of transporting him in an ambulance to hospital. An ambulance is in any case ready on standby to transport the player to hospital, if need be.

The first-aid station is fully equipped to offer the same medical assistance/treatment as a hospital.

Treatment in the First Aid Station: - Upon entering the first-aid station the player was still in the same condition as he had been on the pitch. He was given an infusion and oxygen. During this process the heart stopped beating and reanimation treatment was immediately started. Reanimation entailed giving heart massage, intubation followed by machine-assisted breathing, heart shocks, and medical intravenous treatment.

Reanimation was started approximately 7 minutes after entering the first-aid station (this means 12-13 minutes after the player first collapsed on the field of play). Reanimation continued for approximately 45 minutes, until 20.20. Official time of death: 20.20.

Following the player’s death, the FIFA General Coordinator and FIFA doctor took the head of the Cameroon team delegation into the GC’s office to inform him officially of the player’s death. This was immediately followed by a press conference in which the FIFA doctor, A. Mueller, accompanied by the FIFA media officer, made an official announcement to the press concerning the player’s death.

At the request of the Cameroon delegation and with the approval of the coroner, the Cameroon team members were given the opportunity to take leave of their deceased team-mate. The Colombian and Cameroon teams did not leave the stadium until after the player’s body had been carried away.

In accordance with the coroner’s decision, further details on the exact cause of death will be revealed as a result of an autopsy in the next few days.

********************************************************************************

Additional information: The player was reported to be suffering from diarrhoea two days before the match. In St. Etienne a diagnosis of blood tests was made at the hospital , the results being all right.. It was confirmed that there was no infection Treatment was infusion of NACL and Immodium. On the evening of 25th June 2003 the player felt well. This was the information given by the doctor of the Cameroon team to FIFA Dr Mueller.

[fishbiproduct]

Originally posted by Gary V
I am copying this from another board. No source for this information was provided in that posting.



The source is FIFA itself:
http://www.fifa.com/en/display/mrel,70431.html

Of course, this is being investigated and so
far the autopsy hasn't revealed the exact
cause of death. I don't have a link to an
English-language article about it, at the moment,
but here's where they are at and hypotesis:
http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=121039
(from Liberation, French newspaper)

[Mike T]

The exact diagnosis is pointless. The obvious is the working diagnosis we see with our very eyes, the "unconscious patient"... with eventual then sudden cardiopulmonary arrest. The very document above proves gross errors in the treatment of such real medical catastrophe.

"Time 2’00 - The player is carried off the field of play on a stretcher and treatment is continued beside the touchline. "

Already 2 minutes lost on a patient that is obviously nonresponsive and comatose... extremely alarming even for nonmedically oriented persons. Yet responsiveness is not well assess aside from a few gentle slaps in the face without a reaction. Nor has anyone checked for a pulse.

"Time 3’20 - The player receives additional assistance from a local French doctor. "

What assistance? Maybe only maintainling the airway open. But what about IV access, suplemental oxygenation or preparing for possible respiratory arrest in an already comatose patient. Where is the bag-valve mask?? Where is the supplemental oxygen??

"Time 5’15 - The player is taken to the first-aid station in the stadium. In order to stabilise the player’s condition the head French doctor present takes the decision to keep the player in the first aid station instead of transporting him in an ambulance to hospital. An ambulance is in any case ready on standby to transport the player to hospital, if need be.

The first-aid station is fully equipped to offer the same medical assistance/treatment as a hospital. "

Gross negligence by any standard. A first-aid station is exactly that. Not an Advanced Cardio-Pulmonary Arrest station MUCH less is it capable of offering the "same" medical care as a hopital unless paramedics and hopitals in France do not carry supplemental oxygen, Bag-valve mask, intubation supplies, or IV's. I mean really to say such a statement and to give the patient just mouth to mouth resuscitation as form of high standard medical care, after wasting precious time, is simply absurd.

[Excape Goat]

Agreed with Mike T..... my wife is not a professional emergency worker, but she was trained to do basic emergency. She was saying the same thing as we watch TV. For 5 minutes, he was on the stretcher while over ten men tried to open his airway. Nothing more was done.