He was in Two Minds!

It happened at Redbridge Underground station. A man was seen to climb down from the platform into the pit beneath the middle rail. Not a sensible thing to do you might think. It is alleged that the man suffered with mental health issues and we assumed that he intended to take his life. Needless to say he was successful.

From information provided by onlookers, the man had a change of heart. When he heard the approaching train and felt the rush of air on his face he attempted to climb back onto the platform. Unfortunately, he was too late. He was hit by the train and knocked into the hollow space beneath the platform. When we arrived at scene, the train was stationary at the platform and all power had been switched off. With the help of the station manager we managed to identify the approximate location of the patient who amazingly was showing or should I say making sounds that indicated he was still alive. This presented us with a dilemma! How to get to the patient?

Following much deliberation it was agreed that my colleague would enter the crawl space beneath the platform at one end of the train and a member of the LTE staff enter from the opposite end. I was to remain on the platform with the station manager to liaise with him and my colleague, when he had found his way to the patient. Safety was paramount and this was a critical situation.

When my colleague had managed to crawl to the patient he found a seriously injured man in a very confined space. It was very obvious that he had suffered multi system trauma. There were significant head and chest injuries and the patient was time critical. Although the patient had a reduced level of consciousness and was essentially unresponsive he was breathing, moving and making noises. You have to appreciate that it was very dark, dirty and confined, the two rescuers were lying on their stomachs!

After consultation it was agreed that the rescuers, one at the patients head and the other at his feet, with the use of bandages would physically immobilise the patient to prevent unnecessary movement. The train was then to be decoupled at the nearest point to the patient, the power reintroduced and the train moved so that we could expose the patient and rescuers. The power was then to be again isolated so that others could get onto the tracks to help us remove the patient from the space beneath the platform onto the waiting stretcher trolley. I must say that this was a very brave undertaking on the part of my colleague and LTE member of staff.

And that is exactly what happened. By this time, further resources had arrived and they were able to assist with the treatment and management of the patient. We were deep underground and the patient was brought to the surface where the waiting ambulance blue lighted him to the local A&E. The patient survived for approximately 10 days after arrival at hospital but eventually succumbed to complications arising from the trauma that he had suffered.

It should be remembered, when this happened, we did not have available to us the resources that we now have. There was no Helimed, no Hart team, and no designated Trauma centres. We were not then Paramedics. There was of course the Fire Service and sometimes a BASICS doctor! The support services that can be called upon today we're simply not there.

Even so, our patient was successfully treated and extricated and was delivered to hospital living and breathing. Would the outcome have been any better with today's technology and resources?

We'll never know!

As for my colleague, he looked as if he had been at the coal face he was so black.