The paramedics then said they could not move Shannon for "health and safety" reasons because one of them had a bad back, the inquest heard. A First Aider and his team managed to calm Shannon down, but said that when paramedics put her on the trolley she "sat bolt upright and screamed". The First Aiders were so exasperated by the London Ambulance Service paramedics that one of them said "f*** health and safety, let's get her off", the inquest was told.
The access gates to the park were locked, which meant the ambulance could not get in so six people had to carry Shannon on a trolley down the longest route to the vehicle because it was hilly, North London coroner's court was told. Shannon's condition deteriorated on the way to the ambulance and "one second she was there, the next she was gone," the inquest heard. She died from a form of heart disease called arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, the inquest was told. Race volunteer Catherine Sheppard was first at the scene after Shannon collapsed on January 8 this year.
She said: "The response of the London Ambulance Service was it was against health and safety. At that point I felt very irritated and annoyed. It was the female paramedic's health and safety and her back was an issue." Paramedic Cassandra Lynn gave evidence to the inquest into Shannon's death and denied she had put her patient's health beneath her own.She told the coroner: "What I actually said was we need to think of the health and safety involved for everybody - that included her safety. I was trying to gain control of the situation, which was quite difficult."
6 comments:
Its possible that the little girl wouldn't have made it anyhow with her heart condition, but thats not the point. She and her family were severely let down by the people employed to save her.
If they have a bad back, why the hell are they on the job?
SteveC: Many many nurses have bad backs due to having to lift patients into and out of beds. The good they can do and their worth to the NHS far outweighs the limited number of situations where they can't do anything.
I owe a lot to nurses and one of my own family members is a paramedic. I don't think they get enough credit to be honest.
That said, if working they need to be able to carry out the job. Lives depend on it.
"It was the FEMALE paramedic's..."
And there's the problem, folks. Ain't social engineering grand?
So men can't have bad backs?
Lets read that again shall we? "The access gates to the park were locked, which meant the ambulance could not get in so six people had to carry Shannon on a trolley down the longest route to the vehicle"
And yet people seem to be suggesting that two paramedics should have been able to carry the girl over the same route, bad back or not. If it took six people to carry the girl then there's no way two paramedics could have done it. Paramedics don't have special powers that make them as strong as three people.
If I was going to blame anything for the delays in this case I would ten to lay it in two places; Firstly with the ambulance service (not the specific paramedics) for taking an hour to get an ambulance to the scene; And secondly with the organisers for not ensuring the park gates were open.
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