James Dean could have been SAVED after high-speed car crash if paramedics had put a brace on his broken neck says TV doc

> Autopsy: The Last Hours of James Dean airs tonight on the Reelz network in US

Most of the time, their analysis seems impartial, careful, and reasonable -- at least to the extent that I can tell these things (I'm not a physician). But that particular episode struck me as a pro-James Dean PR piece. Some of the doc's statements, paraphrased:

"I believe Dean was a careful driver, because he did a PSA cautioning drivers to be careful." Sure, doc. Actors always fully believe in the products and ideas they endorse. They never just take a quick buck to be a paid spokesperson, do they? Could Dean have done that spot for the money, or the public image (makes him look good), or both? Naaah.

"I believe that even though Dean was blind as a bat without his glasses, this wasn't a factor, as he was wearing his glasses when the crash happened." And what's your point? I'm blind as a bat without my specs, too. And I can tell you that anyone having that kind of eyesight who would drive without glasses could only be a prime idiot. I don't do it because I'm not an idiot.
OK, so Dean wasn't an idiot either. He may or may not have been reckless or immature, but he wasn't a damned fool. But we already knew that. So what?

"There's evidence to imply that Dean may have been sleep deprived when he crashed, and/or may have been drinking the night before. But I'll rule these out as contributing factors because Dean was such a careful driver." Oh, ok. You start by assuming as a proven fact that he was a superbly careful driver. You invoke that assumption to reject any evidence that he might not have been so careful. And, left only with evidence that concurs with your careful driver idea, you proclaim the idea to be proven ...

"The accident wasn't Dean's fault; the other car turned in front of him in an unsafe manner."

Maybe. But I'm still left wondering -- if James Dean was such a careful driver as the doc would have us believe ... WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING DRIVING AT ALL WITHOUT HIS SEAT BELT ON?

Too bad for him that trauma medicine was developed in the second half of the 20th century, and not the first!

In the 1950s the usual way trauma medicine went was that a person would be pulled alive from a disaster, and the doctors would have absolutely no idea why they died after a couple of days.