Doctors Draw Blood, Warm It in Saving Man Found in Icy Creek

A car accident victim who spent an hour in an icy creek was brought back to life by doctors who drew his blood, warmed it and then pumped it back into his body, officials said Saturday.

Douglas Radloff’s heart had stopped and his body temperature had dropped to 75 degrees when firefighters on Friday morning pulled him from the creek in West Liberty, Iowa.

“For all intents and purposes he was dead at that point,” said Dr. Douglas Behrendt, one of the doctors who worked to revive Radloff.

Radloff, 41, of Davenport, was a passenger in a car that skidded into the creek. Workers at a nearby machine shop and firefighters pulled him from the water about an hour later and he was taken to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, where doctors warmed his blood in an unusual application of a heart-lung machine.

More than three hours after he was pulled from the water, Radloff’s body temperature had risen to 92 degrees and a faint heartbeat was detected, doctors said.

“Right now he is stable, but he is still critical,” hospital spokesman Dean Borg said. “He still hasn’t awakened. His heart, which you know had stopped for some time, is functioning very well right now.”

Radloff experienced two seizures Saturday morning, which could indicate his brain may be functioning, Borg said. No immediate signs of brain damage were found and doctors were most concerned about his water-filled lungs.

Radloff was riding in a car driven by Russell Stagg, 31, of West Liberty, police said. The two were returning from a hunting trip when the car skidded out of control. Stagg was hospitalized in good condition.