We did everything possible to save Diana, doctor tells inquest

Diana's inquest in London was told how staff at Paris's Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital carried out cardiac massage constantly as surgeons attempted to clamp a ruptured blood vessel next to Diana's heart.

But after repeated electric shocks also failed to revive the Princess, medical staff accepted that the battle to save her life had been lost.

He said in a statement read to the jury: "We decided by common consent to stop heart massage as it was completely impossible to restore cardiac activity after such a long period of arrest.

"From that point, the Princess was pronounced dead."

He said he could not recall the exact time when the decision was taken but said staff had treated her for "a few hours".

The jury have already been told that Diana went into cardiac arrest at around 2.10am and was finally pronounced dead at 4am.

"I personally believe we did everything possible to save the Princess with the appropriate means."

The court heard that the car crash in the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel in Paris in the early hours of August 31 1997 left Diana with a ruptured blood vessel causing massive internal bleeding.

The "compressive right haemothorax" in turn put pressure on the Princess's right lung and heart, Dr Eyraud explained.

Her heart stopped for the first time as she was taken out of the wreck of the crashed Mercedes by emergency service staff at around 1am.

Immediate cardiac massage was applied and her heart restarted. But as she was being taken to hospital by ambulance, her condition deteriorated again and the vehicle had to be stopped to allow a doctor to work on her, the court heard.

By the time she arrived at the hospital, staff were on hand, ready for a "worst case scenario", the anaesthetist said.

Diana was already unconscious and, although she did have a heartbeat, she quickly needed artificial help to breathe.

"Upon her arrival, the Princess was 'intubated-ventilated' which means that a piece of apparatus was making her breathe," Dr Eyraud said.

"She was unconscious, I'm positive of that, and on artificial respiration.

"She was in shock, but nevertheless had a heart rhythm.

"This means that her blood pressure was very low but that her heart was still beating."

He told how, after an X-ray showed the size of the haemothorax, the duty surgeon was called in to open up the Princess's chest.

"A right-hand thoracotomy was carried out, which means that the right side of the thorax was opened up.

"I recall that the Princess's heart stopped just prior to this being done.

"We had to perform cardiac massage at the same time as the surgeon was operating, looking for the source of the haemorrhage."

He explained that bleeding appeared to be the result of Diana's pulmonary artery becoming detached from her heart in the crash.

"Throughout the entire operation, internal cardiac massage was performed and rapid transfusions and drips administered, with massive and repeated doses of adrenalin also being injected," he went on.

"Despite this resuscitation and surgical treatment of the cause, the patient remained dependent upon cardiac massage and did not recover a spontaneous cardiac rhythm.

"Even after half an hour of this targeted resuscitation, expired carbon dioxide pressure remained negligible.

"We also administered several electric shocks during resuscitation in order to attempt to get the heart restarted but to no avail."

The jury also heard from Philippe Boyer, a former officer in the Paris fire service who treated Diana at the scene of the crash and remembered her muttering "What has happened?" and "My God" over and over again.

"She was agitated, it seems that she understood what had happened," he said by video link from Paris.

He told how, as he arrived, his colleagues were already removing Dodi Fayed's body from the car to try to resuscitate him.

He said that Dodi was passed through the only open door of the car - indicating that he was lifted directly over the injured Diana who was trapped in the rear footwell of the car facing backwards.

The court was shown a series of close-up paparazzi photographs of a pixellated figure, believed to be Dodi, being carried from the vehicle and laid out on the tarmac as emergency services staff tried to restart his heart.

Mr Boyer said he immediately placed a surgical collar on Diana, whom he did not recognise.

"She said: 'My God' several times, it was repeated, but the others things she said I couldn't understand. I was told later on."

He checked her pulse, which appeared to be "fine and quite strong" while her breathing appeared normal at that stage.

"She had trauma on the right shoulder because her arm was trapped in between the two front seats but that was the only visible injury," he told the jury.

He said there did not appear to be any head injuries and he did not see any blood on her head at that stage.

He then wrapped Diana in an isothermic blanket and handed over to the ambulance service, who removed her from the car.

He then went to assist bodyguard Trevor Rees (than known as Rees Jones).

A statement from ambulance driver Michel Massebeuf was also read to the court, dealing with the controversial journey to hospital.

The jury has heard of claims that the journey was too slow but Mr Massebeuf said he drove "smoothly" at 40kph to 50kph (25mph to 31mph) with a police escort under doctor's orders.

"Driving slowly is a rule, the sole objective of which is to preserve a casualty where necessary," he said.

Mr Massebeuf said the ambulance maintained radio silence during the journey to preserve privacy but stopped close to hospital when Diana's condition worsened.

"The doctor asked me to stop," he said.

"We stopped for about five minutes, in order for him to be able to provide treatment that required a complete absence of movement.

"We continued our journey without having to stop again. The journey was without incident."

The inquest was adjourned and continues tomorrow when the jury is expected to hear from surgeons who battled to save her life.