Can moving an unconscious person kill them?

Question

I'm writing a story and one of the characters is unconscious after being beaten by some people. For the sake of believability, could the character die if someone moved her? I read somewhere that you could kill someone if you move them when they're unconscious from head trauma.

Answer 1

More likely what would kill the person is injury to the spine. Paramedic move unconcious people all the time. The safest way is to imobilize them so that the head and neck are in a straight line. A door would work, and wedge pillows or use some cloth to tie their head down so it doesn't wobble from side to side. A person can be rolled onto a flat hard surface if there are enough people to keep the victim straight.

If the victim is in a position where if they weren't moved immediately they could be the way of great harm, (a car blowing up for example) it's better to pull them out of harm's way.