Tuesday - September 01, 2009

good grief, is this an epidemic?  lady has heart attack, paramedic doesn’t help. she’s scared. wtf?

Well I guess the lawyers will be all over this quite soon.  And why not?  Damn what a sad story.  I can understand a lone paramedic and especially female, being a bit concerned going into a place where there’s drinking and maybe a rough crowd. I mean to say, I can understand her fear as lets face it, generally women in these situations become victims themselves.  So then why was she sent out alone to begin with? What sort of hiring standards and training are paramedics getting? 

Mother-of-three died in pub as solo woman paramedic ‘stood outside and refused to help’

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:14 PM on 01st September 2009

The family and friends of a woman who died after collapsing in a pub have called for action to be taken against a paramedic who they say refused to help her.

Melissa Procter-Blain, 32, suffered a heart attack at The Crown in Spondon, Derbyshire.

The pub’s manager has told how the lone woman paramedic who first responded to the 999 call initially parked outside the wrong premises and then refused to enter the bar.

The woman then allegedly refused to try to resuscitate the mother-of-three on her own and that one of the pub’s customers had to step in until back-up arrived.

Landlady Michelle Doherty, 34, is now calling for the paramedic to be suspended while an investigation into the incident is conducted.

She said: ‘We were waiting outside for the ambulance and we saw the paramedic had parked outside a garage down the road.

‘A young lad ran from the pub down to tell her she was in the wrong place but came back and said she wouldn’t come in.

‘My partner Kevin then ran down to talk to her and she said she wasn’t authorised to go into a pub alone and would only come in if he could guarantee her safety, which he did.’

East Midlands Ambulance Service had logged the incident as a category A - potentially immediately life-threatening - and sent a fast-response vehicle, which arrived within six minutes, and an ambulance, which arrived within ten minutes.

A spokesman said the solo responder paramedic took the life-saving kit from her vehicle into the pub but had described the atmosphere as tense and intimidating.

But witnesses in the pub dispute this claim. Ms Doherty said that while her partner spoke to the paramedic, one of her customers, Leanne Dono, was on the phone to a 999 operator.

She claimed the controller told her the sole responder would begin trying to resuscitate Miss Procter-Blain.

Miss Dono said she then spoke to the paramedic, who said she was not authorised to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on her own.
Enlarge The Crown pub in Spondon, Derbyshire

Local: Miss Procter-Blain suffered a heart attack in The Crown pub in Spondon, Derbyshire. She had been enjoying soft drinks

Miss Dono added: ‘I was talking to the 999 lady and she said I had to count Melissa’s breaths. I counted one, then there was a long gap, then I counted another. By the time I got to the fifth breath, her face had turned grey and there was foam coming out of her mouth. I told the lady on the phone I thought she was dead.

‘That was when the paramedic came. I told her that the 999 lady was saying she should try to resuscitate Melissa but she said she couldn’t on her own, so my boyfriend Scott started doing CPR instead.

‘It was horrible. Everyone was standing around and crying, but it wasn’t threatening. Everyone was just really upset.’

Pub manager Kevin Pearson, 35, said everyone had been ‘disgusted’ by the actions of the paramedic.

He said: ‘We were begging her to come in and help but she just said she couldn’t do anything on her own. What was the point in sending someone on ahead if they can’t do anything once they get there?

DAILY MAIL

Posted by peiper     on 09/01/2009 at 08:13 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Health-Medicine • UK •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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