www.ditl.org

A critically-ill man died after the ambulance taking him to hospital took a detour... so that the driver could end his shift and go home. The driver went to a depot and signed off, turning the vehicle over to another crew to continue the journey. He said that he was already 15 minutes late clocking off.

The diversion took the ambulence half a mile out of it's way, adding about four minutes to the journey.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... shift.html

What could he possibly have been thinking?

Hmmm I wonder if he could be done for it, maybe a reprimand, but I get the feeling legally they can't do anything to him.

Given that the patient was critically ill, deteriorating, and died I think there's a good chance this guy could face criminal charges. I don't know what the UK's laws are regarding manslaughter or negligent homicide but I'd be shocked if he only lost his job.

They say he's been suspended and investigated.

But I wonder since his shift was technically over is he under any legal obligations to get the patient to the hospital. Morally yes definatly, but I get the feeling he;s going to get off by saying since his shift was over his legal obligation was over.

And the patient was reciving care the whole time, he just didnt get taken to the hospital as fast as possible.

Murder is impossibel to pin on him, and manslaughter only if they can prove beyond resonable doubt that the patient would have lived if he got to the hospital 3 minutes sooner.

It's likely that little or nothing will happen to him, I would guess. He will be able to point out that he was just following the rules and if there's a problem then it's the rules that are in the wrong, not him.

There's a culture in today's Britain that people can't be trusted to do their jobs properly. Instead we have to measure and categorise every single aspect of everything everybody does, so that we can PROVE we are doing our jobs. The reverse of this is that, so long as you are meeting all your official targets and following the maze of rules, you are pretty much immune from criticism.

Unless they can prove that this guy broke the rules in some way, he will walk away from this.

The point isn't whether or not he was within the rules, or how right the rules are, or even if he was morally correct (obviously not.) The point is, if he was the type of man to sign off with a dying patient in his truck - why did he become and EMT?

Good money, good hours... not everybody does their job because it's the love of their life, you know.

I know too damned well.

But you kind of have to know that you're going to deal with emergency situations when you apply to become an EMT, no?

Yeah, you'd think he'd be at least somewhat aware that he'd have to go over the clock once or twice.

Heartless bastard...

Yeah, if they don't press charges then the mans family should be allowed 5 minutes alone with this idiot. If he survives the whoel 5 minutes he can keep his job.

Wow, fire the shit out of this guy and throw him in jail for manslaughter. At the very least he's a callous jackass who doesn't give a shit that people could die due to his selfishness.

If you're not willing to work a couple minutes over your shift in order to get a dying man to the hospital as quickly as you can exactly what kind of human being are you and do the rest of us want to share the planet with you?

I say put a IV of rattlesnake poison in him. It takes about 10 maybe 15 minutes to kill a full grown man. Then, put him with a driver who does the same thing. It normally takes 6 minutes for EMTs to arrive, another 6 minutes to return plus 4 minutes to do the shift change. He may live, or he may die just as the hospital door come into his line of sight.

Either way, he won't make the same mistake twice.

Deepcrush wrote:I say put a IV of rattlesnake poison in him. It takes about 10 maybe 15 minutes to kill a full grown man. Then, put him with a driver who does the same thing. It normally takes 6 minutes for EMTs to arrive, another 6 minutes to return plus 4 minutes to do the shift change. He may live, or he may die just as the hospital door come into his line of sight.

Either way, he won't make the same mistake twice.

That is a very suitable method.

Deepcrush wrote:He may live

Probably not. IIRC, there aren't any rattlesnakes native to the British Isles, so the chances of an antivenin being in supply are small.

Not that that's a bad thing.