Doctor Who Helped Launch Modern Paramedic System Dies at 98

October 30, 2015

(Medical Xpress) – As a cardiologist in Los Angeles during the 1960s, Dr. Walter S. Graf became alarmed by the number of heart attack sufferers who died while en route to hospitals. Inspired by an Irish physician who sent hospital doctors and nurses out into Belfast to treat cardiac patients, Graf in 1969 converted a white Chevy van into a “mobile critical care unit.” He went on to outfit ambulances with defibrillators and technicians who knew how to use them, becoming one of a handful of doctors who created the modern paramedic emergency system.