The family of a Franklin County man who was mistakenly declared deceased and put in a body bag decided to sue the county medical officials responsible for the error.  

According to Larry Green’s sayings, the medical officials have checked his vitals after a car hit him in 2005, but apparently they weren’t paying enough attention and thought he was dead. Green was hit as he was walking on Highway 401 near Louisburg during night time.

After he was declared dead at the scene of the impact by the Emergency Medical Technicians, Green was transported to the morgue in a body bag. Several hours later the county medical examiner found that he was still alive.

The Greens argue that the mistake made by the medical officials led to injuries from which the victim, who now lives in a nursing home in Wilson, might never recover.
The medical staff which intervened at the scene of the accident didn’t use monitors, such as an electrocardiogram monitor or a stethoscope, which would have shown that the victim was still alive.

"Franklin County EMS mandated that resuscitation efforts should be undertaken immediately 'if doubt exists," the lawsuit said, charging that medical staff at the scene violated policy in that particular emergency intervention.

The law suit also alleged that Franklin County's medical examiner J.B. Perdue overlooked clear signs that Mr. Green was not dead. The victim had allegedly eye twitched and moved his chest as he was breathing before Perdue begun the forensic evaluation.

"He held on to his erroneous conclusion that Green was dead ... after he and others observed Green's right eyelid twitch several times," the lawsuit said.

Perdue defended himself by saying it was not his responsibility as medical examiner to determine whether Green was dead or alive. He added that he checked the body both at the scene and at the morgue in Louisburg, but failed to observe that Mr. Green was still alive. About 2 1/2 hours after the impact, Purdue realized the Green was alive as a state Highway Patrol trooper asked him to help determine from which direction he was struck.

After the accident, Mr. Green spent the next two moths in the hospital being treated of a severe head injury, broken leg and other injuries. At first, he was trying to communicate through eye-blinking and grunts and after about five month he began some limited speaking.

With their sun in such a terrible state of health, the Greens fear that he might never fully recover from his severe injuries.