  
| 
| ||||||||||||
Survivor of mine explosion leaves hospitalMcCloy responds to visitors but can't speak yet, doctors say
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (CNN) -- After being treated with respirators, feeding tubes, dialysis and even a couple of hours in a hyperbaric chamber, the sole survivor of the Sago Mine explosion has left the care of doctors who have skippered his recovery efforts over the past three weeks. Randy McCloy, 26, is being transferred to a rehabilitation center that specializes in treating people disabled by accident, injury, illness or congenital problems, hospital officials said. McCloy was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown on January 4 following his rescue from a mine almost two days after an explosion that eventually killed 12 of his fellow miners. Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death listed on his co-workers' death certificates, and McCloy incurred serious organ damage during his 41 hours trapped underground in Tallmansville, 75 miles south of the hospital. His condition has improved throughout his hospitalization, but doctors remain cautiously optimistic about his progress, even after he emerged from a coma Wednesday. Listed in fair condition, McCloy has been responding to visitors and eating small amounts of food since last week, but he is still not able to speak, said Dr. Larry Roberts of the Byrd Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University in Morgantown. A fever that developed in recent days has subsided, and he has not required kidney dialysis in the past few days, a statement Thursday said. During McCloy's three weeks of hospitalization, he was moved to a facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a few days to receive specialized oxygen treatment in a hyperbaric chamber to help clean his blood of carbon monoxide. Federal investigators are still trying to determine what happened January 2 at Sago, and a federal judge ruled Thursday that a miner's union can help in the probe. U.S. District Judge Robert Maxwell said the United Mine Workers of America has a legal right to accompany investigators during the inspection of the mine. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration filed for an injunction against a subsidiary of International Coal Group, which owns Sago Mine, after union representatives were turned away while trying to accompany federal investigators. ICG President Ben Hatfield accused the union Wednesday of "trying to insert itself into the investigation in a self-serving attempt to boost their organizing efforts." MSHA entered the mines Thursday to begin its investigation. ICG issued a statement saying it would appeal the judge's ruling but would comply with the preliminary injunction issued by Maxwell. MSHA, a division of the Department of Labor, had supported the union's effort to join in the investigation because the families of at least two miners had asked that the union represent them. 
|
| ||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
