ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER THE ROANOKE TIMES
MEMO: NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
A Roanoke physician stopped to help and opened an airway, but Phyllis Plotts later died at a Roanoke hospital.
A Pulaski woman was critically injured in a single-car accident Tuesday afternoon and later died at a Roanoke hospital despite the efforts of a physician who happened upon the scene.
Phyllis Rhea Plotts, 51, was driving north on U.S. 11 south of Dublin about 1:40 p.m. when she either passed out or fell asleep at the wheel, said Sgt. Steven Chumley of the Virginia State Police. Plotts' car drifted into the median and skidded sideways into a tree.
The impact of the crash left the driver's side of Plotts' car wrapped around the tree, he said. She was trapped in the car for about an hour.
Roanoke physician Tom Berdeen, who practices occupational medicine at Columbia Montgomery Regional and Pulaski Community hospitals, had just left the Pulaski hospital when he saw the accident and stopped to help.
Rescue workers had been trying to resuscitate Plotts, but they were unable to insert a breathing tube or force air into her lungs with a breathing bag. When Berdeen arrived, crews had just moved the dashboard and steering wheel away from Plotts, but her legs were still caught in the wreckage.
Plotts wasn't breathing, so Berdeen performed a tracheotomy, in which a hole is cut in the trachea and a breathing tube is inserted.
"It was really incredible for him to be there and act in the way that he did," Chumley said. "I feel that she probably lived a little longer because of his actions."
Berdeen practiced emergency medicine for 24 years, 20 of which he spent as head of Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital's emergency department. He also was the region's emergency medical services coordinator for many years.
He's stopped at accidents before, but he doesn't usually get involved, he said. "Most of the time, you just offer support and let the rescue squads do their thing.
"They are really good at what they do," Berdeen said.
Once crews got Plotts out of the car, she was flown to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she died at 5:17 p.m.
Chumley said he isn't sure what happened to Plotts, but some of her co-workers told him she left work early because she wasn't feeling well. Plotts was pale and told them she might pass out.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB