Interesting context from a post on the O's forum..
"It was a shocking thing to see and we are all waiting for news which hopefully will be good.
It prompted me to do some research. For reasons that are not entirely clear, but som people think may have been related to increased awareness of medical risks as a result of COVID, there was a spate of incidents during 2021/22 in which games were suspended due to medical emergencies in the stands. This prompted both the EFL and Premier League to review their procedures and both opted to encourage games to continue while medical emergencies are dealt with.
The EFL gave a bit more detail. It said that there are protocols in place for dealing with medical issues and if supporters draw these events to the attention of players and referees, it circumvents the normal procedures which if anything is riskier for patients. The presumption seems to be that where possible players and officials will not necessarily even be aware of an incident going on. Obviously that is quite possible and sensible in larger grounds and where the emergency is easily dealt with.
Thus the officials at last night's game initially acted in accordance with the current policy of the EFL.
Clearly, however, last night's incident was unusual. A combination of the proximity of the incident to the pitch, the compactness of our ground and the seriousness of the emergency made it impossible for anyone not to be aware of what was happening.
At this stage you would hope that the referee has some discretion. From a fairly distant vantage point in the South Stand what I saw was supporters and players taking charge. The referee stopped the match when the pitch invasion took place but kept the players on the field and it certainly seemed from where I was that the Lincoln captain, after a conversation on the sideline, was the one who suspended the match and waved the players off.
It will be a complicated matter to unpick . A pitch invasion and an unauthorised suspension of the match if that's what happened are both punishable offences and I hope the EFL uses some common sense. It is only a football match when all is said and done."
It seems common sense prevailed if the above is true (hurrah for that!), and it goes without saying all of it is pretty irrelevant in comparison to the trauma the person and their family have suffered....