A Hillsborough victim who may have been breathing after the crush received CPR too late, the inquests heard.
The court, in Birchwood Park, Warrington, heard that there was some witness evidence of Christopher Edwards, 29, from Great Sutton, breathing just before he was picked up in pen three after the crush at the semi-final on April 15, 1989.
Intensive care expert Prof Jerry Nolan said that, if the evidence of breathing was correct, Chris may have had a heartbeat at the time, or may have been displaying gasping breaths seen around the time of cardiac arrest.
Footage showed Chris being carried in the pen at 3.27pm.
Brenda Campbell, representing his family, said: “At the moment that Christopher was found, at around about 3.27pm, for him, getting urgent medical treatment was a matter of life or death.”
Prof Nolan said: “Certainly from the time that he’s found, from the description that we have had, the earlier that the appropriate treatment could be got to Chris, the higher the chance of survival.”
But Ms Campbell said almost two minutes passed between the time Chris was first seen and the time footage showed him being given CPR on the pitch.
Ms Campbell says: “The reality of the situation is this, isn’t it Prof Nolan, that the decision to delay the provision of basic life support at 3.27pm until 3.29pm may well, in Christopher’s case, have proven fatal?”
Prof Nolan said: “If he had been able to receive the correct and appropriate treatment in that pen, then yes, it would have made a difference, but, as I have said, I can’t tell whether that was feasible.” Prof Nolan said he could not comment on how long Chris received CPR for on the pitch.
Ms Campbell said: “The simple point, perhaps, is this, Prof Nolan, that – however long – the CPR was at 3.29pm and therefore it came, in Christopher’s case, too late?”
Prof Nolan replied: “That, I think, is true.”
Pathologists gave the cause of death for the four victims discussed at Friday’s hearing as compression asphyxia.
