LINCOLN COUNTY, Ky. — A paramedic who responded to a 911 call for a woman found lying on the floor declared her dead on arrival, but 25 minutes later coroners detected chest movements.
The husband of Kristal Tygart, who died a day later in a hospital, questions if more could have been done if the medic had realized she was still alive, WKYT reports.
He dialed 911 on April 17, when he woke up to see his wife unresponsive and lying on the floor. The West Lincoln EMS paramedic who responded to the call could not be reached for comment.
“He just looked at her and felt her and said, ‘She’s gone,’” said the husband, who didn’t want to be identified. “I said, ‘No way! No, no, no, that’s not possible. He said, ‘Yes, she’s gone.’ He threw a blanket over her and walked out and shut the door behind me.”
A deputy and the coroner arrived about 25 minutes later as part of a routine death investigation.
“He [the deputy] started moving her and said, ‘Whoa! Her chest is moving. She’s breathing!” the husband said.
Lincoln County Deputy Coroner Tony Floro said she was still unresponsive and her breathing was faint. She was taken to a nearby hospital and then flown to a medical center, where she died the next day. She died from a closed head injury from a fall, according to the report.
Tygart fell twice at a friend’s house the night before, but each time said she was okay. Her husband questioned the medic’s judgment, who made news last September when he called a medical helicopter for two children who had no major injuries — just cuts and bruises — after being hit by a heavy shelf.
He still wonders if his wife would still be alive if the paramedic had done more sooner.
“Every minute counts,” he said. “So yeah, I didn’t understand that.”