AN INQUEST heard that medical staff acted appropriately during a procedure that preceded a critically ill man suffering a cardiac arrest and secondary brain damage.

Paul Murray, 40, was admitted to Middlesbrough’s James Cook Hospital with life-threatening injuries after being hit by a car.

Mr Murray had been out jogging between Nunnington and Wombleton, North Yorkshire, on the evening of September 23, 2015 and was wearing a headtorch and reflective clothing.

A two-day inquest held at Northallerton this week heard that the car driver spotted Mr Murray’s headtorch and thought he was a cyclist on the opposite side of the road.

Police evidence suggested that Mr Murray, a lorry driver from County Tyrone, had crossed in front of the car when he was struck.

The inquest heard that while being monitored in intensive care, there was a failure with Mr Murray’s ventilation tube and it took medics three attempts to re-insert it - known as intubation.

During this time Mr Murray suffered a 31-minute cardiac arrest and secondary brain damage.

He died two days later on September 29.

Dr David Sutton, who was asked by North Yorkshire Police to review the intubation procedure carried out at the hospital, agreed with a previous consultant’s view that the situation was a “worst nightmare” scenario.

He showed the inquest the type of tube used and said that the doctor treating Mr Murray was right to persevere with a larger tube twice before successfully inserting a smaller one on the third attempt.

Dr Sutton, an anaesthetist consultant and trauma care expert, explained that Mr Murray had produced vomit which made it difficult for medics to get a clear view of the intubation process.

And under questioning he said it would have reasonable for medical staff to assume his stomach would have been empty after several days in hospital.

When asked by coroner Michael Oakley whether everything done during the intubation procedure was appropriate, Dr Sutton replied: “It was, as far as I can judge from the records supplied to me, everything was carried out in an appropriate manner.

“Bearing in mind this wasn’t a planned, elected change, it was an emergency situation because the tube had come out you only had minutes to get it straight because of the loss of airway.”

Dr Sutton also told the inquest that the doctor that carried out the intubation was appropriately qualified.

Mr Murray died from bronchopneumonia and coroner Mr Oakley concluded that his death was due to a combination of a road traffic collision and complications arising from oesophageal intubation.