Man's body on train carriage... but for how long?

[Gumleaf]

Wednesday 20th of May 2009 - Herald Sun


POLICE have launched an investigation into the discovery of a body in a commuter train in Melbourne.

Passengers found the man, believed to be in his mid-60s, as they left the train from Sandringham at Flinders St station about 7.30am.

One passenger tried to take the man's pulse.

It was unclear how long he had been dead when passengers found him.

Police spokesman Adam West said a report would be prepared for the Coroner.

Witness Mary, a nurse and lawyer, who did not want to give her last name, said the man, who looked dishevelled, appeared to have been dead for some hours.

"I think a lot (of people) had walked past assuming he was just asleep," Mary, 49, from Brighton said. "I worked in palliative care for 10 years so I didn't have any doubt.

"You (could) just see that he'd passed away.

"It was really sad to think someone had not even been alone in a bed, but on a train."

Mary said she waited with the man, while other passengers alerted station staff.

Police and paramedics also attended the incident on platform 9, which was closed for about 90 minutes.

Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman Lauren Nooak said paramedics were called because of a person in cardiac arrest. "Our paramedics were called, but he or she was dead on arrival," Ms Nooak said.

Spokeswoman Lanie Harris said Connex did not know when the man died.

"We do know that at Flinders St station passengers alerted the driver to the fact there was a passenger who appeared unconscious," Ms Harris said.

The driver then contacted train control, she said.

"It's sad when someone passes away. It's happened on our train, so we have to take responsibly for how it's handled. In this instance, I think that everything's gone according to procedure."

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

How sad. In my psychology class, we learned that this kind of thing isn't actually all that uncommon. The problem is that people don't see it as their responsibility to make sure you're ok. You could pass out while walking down the street, and you'd be surprised how few people would stop to help. It's to do with, like, social pressure. The more people that are around us, the less likely we are to act. Not just because we assume someone else will (although that's part of it), but because of social norms about not staring at people. Unless someone very obviously has a heart attack, or is hit by a car right in front of us, we often have to look for a moment to decide if it's an emergency. Even if is, we have to then decide that it is our personal responsibility to help. Buuuuuut, our culture tells us it's wrong to stare, and thus most people probably didn't even SEE this man, let alone stop to realize that he'd been asleep for an awful long time. I mean, obviously they didn't just see an empty seat, but he didn't register on their radar.

Crazy stuff. At least he was somewhere where they could find him that day. I hate stories where someone is in their own home for days, weeks, months even before someone notices. As much as the body is just a shell at that point, it's still unfortunate.