New role: Deputy coroner helps save heroin overdose victim
(FotoMaximum/Bigstock)
A Pennsylvania woman who gets paid to pronounce people dead is being credited with helping save the life of a heroin overdose victim.
Bern Township police Chief Wesley Waugh says Melissa Spuhler reacted quickly when she learned the man was unresponsive in a car outside a sandwich shop where she was waiting in line.
Spuhler, a deputy Berks County coroner, tells The Reading Eagle she radioed for help, checked the man for a pulse, then rolled him onto his side, which helps prevent overdose victims from choking on their own vomit. A township officer arrived with a dose of naloxone to revive the man.
The rescue occurred Aug. 7.
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