A reader who collapsed

Dear Rabbi! A tragic event happened in our synagogue. The person who was called up to read the maftir suddenly collapsed in the middle of reading the haftara. Thankfully, he recovered and now he’s feeling well. The question is, did we do the right thing, or did we make a mistake. Some people said that the person who was called to replace him was supposed to continue from where he stopped. Others claimed that he has to begin to read everything from the beginning, and that he has to recite the blessing over reading the haftara again. Practically, what happened, since we didn’t know what the law is in this case, was that the new reader did not recite the blessing before reading the haftara, read the whole haftara from the beginning, and recited the blessings afterwards. Did we do the right thing? What were we supposed to do?  

Actually, you did everything correctly! The new reader really does have to begin reading from the beginning of the haftara, and not from the place where the first one stopped. On the other hand, there is a doubt whether he has to make a blessing before his reading. Therefore, since one does not recite a blessing in case of a doubt, he should not have blessed. However, he does have to recite the blessings that are pronounced after reading the haftara.

Shulchan Oruch, section Orach Chaim, chapter 284, §5; Mishnah Berurah, ibid., subsection 9