LIFE-SAVING TECHNIQUE

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33453, 7 February 1974, Page 2

LIFE-SAVING TECHNIQUE

(From the London correspondent of "The Press

LONDON. Feb. 6. An injury recovery method, taught by a famed New Zealand surgeon, the late Sir Archibald MacIndoe, could well have saved the life of Lady Shawcross who died after being kicked by a horse last month, according to London casualty experts. After the inquest this week, the experts said it was regrettable that Sir Archibald Maclndoe’s “recoven' position” was not widely known, although it was described in some standard first-aid manuals. The coroner found that Lady Shawcross, aged 54. second wife of a former Labour Attorney-General, Lord Shawcross, died of asphyxia caused by breathing in hlood after the horse, from which she had dismounted, kicked her in the throat. ROAD DEATHS According to the experts, such victims should be placed so that they do not drown in their own blood. They believe that more than 20 per cent of people who die in road accidents could be saved if the first

rescuer on the scene knows the correct position in which to place them. They say that the worst position for an unconscious victim, with iniurv to the lower face or throat, is on his back. He should be placed face down, with the head on one side, and an arm extended to prevent rolling over. In this way blood and debris are not inhaled. SHOOTING VICTIM The experts say that one of the things that saved the life of the president of Marks and Spencer, Mr Joseph Sieff, aged 68, when a terrorist shot him through the mouth at his home last month, was that Mrs Sieff placed him in a position in which he could not drown in his own blood. The face-down position was, say the experts, taught to medical officers in the Second World War by Sir Archibald MacIndoe when he was consultant in plastic surgery to the Royal Air Force and in charge of the worldrenowned air crew plastic surgery unit at East Grinstead.