Thanks to Reynolds for this link. Well, no thanks really, because it has made me angry and flabbergasted very early in the morning.
The article is about a 77-year-old man who had a fall in a pub. He fractured his skull and sadly died. His family are thinking of suing the ambulance service, because, wait for it, they arrived TOO QUICKLY and therefore did not see all the information given in the 999 call. Have you ever heard anything like it? Perhaps they should have parked on the opposite side of the road and refused to leave the cab until the call was complete? No doubt then someone would be suing because the ambulance took too long to arrive!
A few points:
- The ambulance took four minutes to arrive. On average, 999 calls take 2-3 minutes. So perhaps someone should sue those helpful bystanders for taking too long on the phone! Or maybe the call taker was talking too slowly. Sue him too!
- Even if they didn’t see the full details of the call before they arrived, they would have been available to them when they got back in the cab.
- And why didn’t the bystanders who gave all this helpful information to the call taker stick around to give it to the ambulance crew too?
- The news report states the patient refused to let the ambulance crew touch him or get in the ambulance. Ambulance crews can’t treat anyone who refuses treatment (unless they are under a section of the Mental Health Act). It is against the law, and guess what, can get them sued! The patient has the last say as to whether they are taken to hospital. Maybe the crew would have pushed the issue a bit more if they’d known the patient had been unconscious, but it still would have been up to him. (On occasions, people in life threatening conditions have refused hospital and while the crew do not take leaving them lightly, once they are convinced they are of sound mind and understand what they are doing, they have no option but to leave them.)
- Crews are neither doctors nor psychics. Their job is not to diagnose but to monitor the vital signs and symptoms and keep the patient alive until they reach hospital. If the patient refuses treatment, they can’t do any of that.
- This crew didn’t “just leave the patient to die”. They left him with the police, who would monitor the patient and send for the FME (police doctor) if they had any concerns. It sounds to me like this is exactly what happened.
- The report mentions that one member of the crew was scared of being assaulted, seeming to imply this is a bad thing, and that crews should put the patient’s health above their own safety. Nonsense. Crews are people too and they have every right to put themselves first. Why should they get hurt just doing their job? It’s not just self-preservation either. If a crew is assaulted, they’ll be off the road for the rest of the night, and think how many people will suffer because of that. If they are seriously injured in the assault, they could be off for months. Why risk it?
This has turned into a bit of a rant and I hope it does not come across as unsympathetic to the family who of course are in shock at the loss of their relative and probably not thinking straight and looking for someone to blame. On the other hand, I can’t help feeling sad and angry when someone turns on the very people who were trying to help in this way. Sometimes, people die and it is a tragic accident but it is not anyone’s fault. All that needs to be said to the ambulance crew is “thank you, I know you did all you could.”
Also, grammar pedant’s note… did anyone notice that this report has my worst ever pet hate in it? It’s not LAYING ON THE GROUND, it’s LYING!!! What was he laying? An egg? Urgh!
