Hillsborough inquests: Doctors quizzed on death times

Ninety-six fans died following crushing at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough on 15 April 1989

Some of the families who lost relatives at Hillsborough were "concerned" they may have still been alive when assessed as dead, the new inquests have heard.

Doctors told the inquests they were "confident" in their assessments with Dr David Monaghan telling the jury he had "no doubt" about those he checked.

Ninety-six people died after a crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

The jury heard from eight doctors who assessed casualties after the disaster.

'Doesn't take long'

Dr Monaghan, who worked as a radiology registrar in Sheffield at the time, walked to the ground after seeing ambulances passing his house.

He arrived at the stadium at about 16:30 BST.

Nick Brown, a barrister representing relatives of 75 of the victims, said Dr Monaghan certified the deaths of five of the victims in a "short" six-minute period, between 16:30 and 16:36.

Mr Brown asked: "How can you be confident that all of those five people were dead, if you're assessing five of them in an approximately six-minute period?"

Dr Monaghan said that he took "as long to assess death as it takes" and that "it doesn't actually take that long to do".

Mr Brown said those who had suffered crush injuries and who were unconscious and unresponsive "might still have a very weak or irregular pulse shortly before going in to cardiac arrest".

Dr Monaghan said he did not know how the casualties had been injured and he spent "perhaps in the region of between 15 seconds and a minute" checking for a pulse.

He added: "It's something that I was very experienced in at the time, so I took the time I felt was required to do it and I had no doubt - and I have no doubt - that all the people were deceased at the time."

'Daunting task'

The jury also heard Dr Allan Redgrave, a GP working in Sheffield, went to the ground after hearing media coverage of the unfolding tragedy.

He worked in the gymnasium, which was used as a temporary mortuary, from 15:35 onwards.

Dr Redgrave said: "The senior police officer I had spoken to said he was concerned that there may be people who possibly were alive who had been triaged to the temporary mortuary.

"His request to me was to check if there was anybody who might be alive, which was clearly a daunting task, given the number of casualties who I was aware of."

The doctor agreed that at that time the casualties were "effectively" being "treated as if they were dead" and the police officer's concern put him under an "enormous pressure of time".

Who were the 96 victims?

BBC News: Profiles of all those who died

He and Dr Matthew Bull, who assessed casualties in the gym between 15:50 and 16:10, checked fans for signs of life, including listening with a stethoscope for a heartbeat and seeing if their pupils reacted to light.

"Initially there was nobody to pass information to and we moved from one body to the next, because we did feel under great pressure to find - to see if anybody did have signs of life. So we were working as quickly as we could," Dr Redgrave said.

He added they "were getting in a muddle" and soon realised they did not know which bodies in the gym they had already checked. They may have assessed some fans more than once.

Asked if he was specifically looking for a weak pulse associated with crush injuries, he said: "I'd have looked for any pulse. If I'd have found any pulse, I would have been overjoyed.

"I'm reasonably confident that I would have detected [a weak pulse], but I'm aware that I couldn't be certain."

The court heard Dr Bull examined at least 17 casualties that afternoon. He said he "didn't feel rushed".

The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, continue.