By Marie Louise McCrory
The Irish News
BELFAST, Ireland — A paramediC taking a patient to hospital has told how he suffered a burn to his eye when a laser was shone into his ambulance.
John Corr (42) was temporarily blinded in his right eye as he drove from Poleglass, on the outskirts of west Belfast, to Lagan Valley Hospital in Lisburn with a patient suffering chest pains at about 1am on Saturday.
He was forced to pull over and stop. Police were called and Mr Corr’s colleague drove the ambulance to the hospital. The patient was admitted and Mr Corr was examined.
Later that day an eye specialist at the Royal Victoria Hospital found that Mr Corr had suffered a burn to his retina.
The green laser beam was shone from a car which stopped alongside him at the Lagmore traffic lights. The car continued into Lagmore. Police are investigating.
Mr Corr, a father from Stewartstown Park in west Belfast, said he had been unable to finish his shift on Saturday morning or to report for work that night. He has been off work since then.
“I wasn’t able to see out of my right eye,” he said.
“We were going to wait until another crew arrived but we’re short staffed and we wanted to get the patient to hospital. Our control called the police.”
Mr Corr, who has a follow-up hospital appointment next month, said he had been left with a “dot” on his right eye.
“My sight was blurred for a couple of days. It’s painful,” he said.
He criticised those who shone the laser at him.
“I had a patient on board. I could have crashed into something,” he said.
“I don’t know if people are aware of how dangerous these things are.”
The ambulance service called for the prosecution of those responsible for attacks on healthcare workers.
“The lives of all in the ambulance, along with other road users including those responsible for the incident, were placed in real and immediate danger by those who perpetrated this act,” a spokesman said.
“Ambulance crews regularly endure unacceptable levels of verbal and physical abuse as they attempt to treat patients who are in need of care and attention.
“However, the use of a laser beam deliberately directed into the eyes of a member of our staff at any time, but particularly while driving a vehicle, must be of great concern to the public, as it is to us.”
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