Patient dies as ambulance driver clocks off!
A sad reflection on our society :((((((((((((((((
A stroke victim died after an ambulance driver who had finished his shift drove to his depot to clock off instead of going to hospital.
The driver complained to a colleague that he had worked 15 minutes’ overtime already and wanted someone else to take over.
Ambulance controllers received a 999 call at 3.52pm on May 18. The crew were alerted to a Category A life-threatening incident and arrived at Mr Asghar’s home, just three miles from the hospital, at 3.57pm.
After assessing his condition, they left for the hospital at 4.13pm. The journey should have taken around 10 minutes. Instead the driver went to his ambulance station, where he got out leaving the patient in the back with the technician until a new driver turned up. It is alleged that he failed to tell his replacement that there was a critically ill patient in the ambulance.
The vehicle finally arrived at the hospital at 4.27pm. Doctors administered Cardiopulmonary resuscitation straight away, but were unable to save him. The detour, which added half a mile to the journey, was reported by the new driver, who was just starting his shift.
A spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service said: “This incident was immediately reported to us by another member of staff. As soon as we were notified, we acted to suspend a paramedic and an advanced technician from duty.
“We appointed a senior officer to carry out a full investigation and have notified the North East Strategic Health Authority, Stockton-on-Tees Teaching Primary Care Trust and the Health Professions Council of our actions.
“We have also been in touch with the family of the patient to give them our condolences. Patient care is our number one priority and we treat any action which falls short of the high standard expected of our staff extremely seriously.
“Both the paramedic and advanced technician are now being dealt in line with the trust’s disciplinary process.”
Mr Asghar was a father of four. His youngest son, Mohammed, 33, said: “If you have a patient in an ambulance, you don’t worry about your bloody shift finishing.
“The driver should not get away with it. The time he took to detour could have saved my father’s life.”
The Times
Yes, it was in the UK.
The driver even failed to notify his replacement that the 69-year-old, who had suffered a stroke, was deteriorating and close to death.
Paul Liversidge, director of operations at North East Ambulance Service, said: 'There was an avoidable delay. How long is irrelevant. It simply should never have happened'.
He said the ambulance service received a 999 call at 3.52pm and immediately gave it 'Category A' status because Mr Asghar's condition was life-threatening.
The ambulance arrived at 3.57pm and remained at the address in Stockton, Cleveland, until 4.13pm ahead of what is usually a 10-minute journey to hospital.
But once in the ambulance the driver decided that instead of heading straight to North Tees Hospital - 3.3 miles away - he would return to the Grangefield depot.
Leaving the patient in the back of the ambulance with the technician the paramedic disappeared and a new driver took the wheel.
The detour lengthened the journey to the hospital to 3.8 miles and added approximately four minutes, a spokesman for the NEAS said.
When Mr Asghar arrived at hospital his condition had deteriorated. He died a short time later from a heart attack.
The delay was reported by the new driver who was just starting his shift and took over at the wheel from his colleague.
Mr Liversidge added: 'This incident was immediately reported to us by another member of staff and as soon as we were notified, we acted to suspend a paramedic and an advanced technician from duty.
'We appointed a senior officer to carry out a full investigation of the incident and have notified the North East Strategic Health Authority, Stockton-on-Tees Teaching Primary Care Trust and the Health Professions Council of our actions.
Dont be confused! this incident posted by britexpat did not happen in Qatar. HMC-EMS which is Qatar Ambulance service is still the best Pre-Hospital Ambulance Service. Giving the highest quality of care to people all over Qatar.
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mai lain pa!
six month's ago...i had an accident... a van hitted my car at the intersection... dragged it away. i were safe and was in my senses... the person beside me injured physically... i called up 999, and two of the ambulances reached within 15 minute's...so from that day i thought the it's the best service so far amongst any... but this incident i read... made me confused... can believe one's carelessness...
mostly seen two person's in an ambulance while on the road... for what the other guy step in there...?
I think bloody ambulances should have two drivers if one if feeling 'TIRED' then the other should take over. You'd risk the life of one patient to go and clock out? WTF sorta thinking is that? What if that one patient was ME? I'd be sorely missed on QL.
Good Fortune always comes knocking at your door...when you are sh*tting in the toilet!! :)
_[]~SMoKE~[]_
sheryl, wrong post...
usapa na..
I would gladly like to see this selfish bastard
of bastards driver hang by his testicles in public.
This individual has no business being anywhere near a health care environment. What a pathetic selfish move to make. I do hope the emergency service in charge issues a circular making mandatory completion of an emergency service in progress before any clocking out is done.
Amazing an emergency worker would do such a thing.
His name should be made public in the newspapers and he should be humiliated.
Watched the match yesterday between Federer and Soderling. I was disappointed that Soderling lost, but it looked like he asked to lose or more like a planned game. Soderling didn't play his game...he shocked the world when he defeated Nadal in the quarter finals and Gonzales in the semis and so I'm still wondering what happened yesterday....I think he had planned to lose!!!!
Indeed sad! People are not paid enough to care anymore!
Whatever you vividly imagine, Ardently desire, Sincerely believe and Enthusiastically act upon, Must inevitably come to pass.
But I think its an isolated incident and should not reflect to the whole reputation of North East Ambulance Service. It is just the unprofessional behavior of one person and not the whole company.
Where is this? the UK?
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I think ambulance drivers should be required to watch Grey's Anatomy.
I've only seen patients arrive alive on that show. ;)
+*+even you are in the plane or any kind of transportation+*+it is happen to anyone+*+
is this kind of non sense gossip?
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I've actually heard something like this before. There's probably more to the story then what you just read. For example ambulance officers by law are only allowed to work a certain amount of hours, being tired or overworked on the job can lead to negligence and mistreatment of patients. If this particular ambulance officer was coming off an already extended shift, his competency as someone who holds someone else's life in the balance may be compromised, and thus he would be liable for the patients death. In this particular case the ambulance officer may have made the decision (albeit wrongly) that the patient would be in better care of someone who was not tired and that he would last the duration of the extra 1 minute detour.
I'm not saying this is necessarily the case, but you generally only read the sensationalised version of events when you read articles.
this ambulance driver to be put in jail
he is solely responsible for this man death (though the life and death is in god's hand) but since the man was in a critical situation the driver should have taken the patient to hospital then change his shift or what ever
he is solely responible
Hmm, interesting to say the least. Have we really become a society so numbed that some people are more concerned with working a bit over their duty hours (or minutes in this case) than they are for human life?
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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"
reckless imprudence to the highest level! sigh...
usapa na...