Heath Ledger’s motionless body was still warm when paramedics were called to his SoHo apartment, according to the Emergency Medical Service dispatch report obtained by The Post.
“Torso is warm,” reads a log entry from 3:28 p.m.
The statement came from a 911 caller whom police identi fied as Ledger’s masseuse, Diane Lee Wolozin. Police say Wolozin used the actor’s cell phone to report the emergency at 3:27 after finding him naked, face down and unresponsive in bed.
A person’s hands, feet and head generally get cold about 20 minutes after his or her heart stops, several Fire Department EMTs said. A body of Ledger’s size would take about an hour to lose heat, they said.
That means he was dead for as little as 20 minutes, but likely longer.
A warm body, said a veteran Manhattan EMT, “means he wasn’t dead for long.”
Another EMT said “body temperature is crucial on emergency calls, but there are a lot of factors.
“It could mean his heart didn’t stop that long ago, or it could mean he was under blankets that were retaining heat. It’s very hard to say until you get there.”
The alarming revelation makes even more heart breaking the fact that nine potentially critical minutes were wasted when Wolozin made three calls to actress Mary-Kate Olsen be fore she called 911.
Ledger’s maid Teresa Solomon said she heard him snoring at 1 p.m.
“Every second counts,” said one veteran EMT. “But it’s extremely hard to judge. Could it have helped? Could it have helped if she did CPR? Maybe. But it may have all been a moot point. Unfortunately, it’s really impossible to tell.”
When Wolozin - who had a 3 p.m. massage appointment with Ledger - walked into the actor’s room and saw him unconscious, she immediately buzzed Olsen three times.
When she finally called 911, according to the dispatch report, she reported that someone was “passed out in apt. 4″ at 421 Broome St. She quickly specified that it was a, “mle, 30 . . . in bed not breathing n not waking up [sic].”
She also told dispatchers that Ledger was found “stiff - head, hands, feet cold,” before declaring that his torso was still warm.
According to the EMT report, FDNY Engine Company 55 was sent to the loft, quickly followed by two volunteer hospital-based medics and two FDNY EMTs.
The Engine Company arrived first, and in an effort to save the actor, appear to have started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
An entry at 3:34 says, “FDL///Confirmed arrest//CPR.” One EMS dispatcher said that means, “CPR was already in progress when the medics arrived, which means the guys from the engine started.”
The FDNY did not comment yesterday on what measures were taken.
Around the time the firefighters apparently started CPR, the medics and EMTs arrived at the $24,000-a-month apartment - and realized it was too late. After assessing the situation, the medics pronounced Ledger dead on arrival at 3:36.
The two medical units did not administer CPR, and sent in codes of “83D” to the dispatcher, meaning “patient is deceased, no resuscitation initiated,” according to EMS code. A patient is placed in this category if he is “unresponsive, breathless and pulseless.”
Police said they suspect that Ledger died at about 1 p.m.
A source who arrived at the scene 10 minutes after Ledger was declared dead said the actor was showing “visible signs of death,” including his lips turning blue. “He was very obviously dead,” the source said.
Shortly after the last-ditch effort to revive Ledger, police were called.
At 7:09, cops told dispatchers, “Susp at this time - no fowl [sic] play - suspected - poss accidental overdose,” said the report, meaning authorities at the scene suspected an overdose, not foul play. Police later said prescription sleeping pills were found in the apartment.
The medical examiner is still investigating the cause of death.
Wolozin has not given a full public statement since the incident. But cops said that upon finding Heath, she immediately called Olsen.
“Heath is unconscious. I don’t know what to do!” Wolozin screamed in her first call to Olsen on Tuesday, police sources said. Moments later, Wolozin called back, and said, “I think he may be dead. I’m calling 911!”
Wolozin is not licensed by the state to be a masseuse, so she was not trained to do CPR.
According to the EMT report, Ledger’s EMT call will be part of an FDNY trial study launched in May 2007. The study will examine responses to 1,000 cardiac arrest cases.
“Basically, after a call, you give some detail about the response, and that’s sent to” the FDNY’s Office of Medical Affairs, said one EMT.
(Via New York Post)
