By Rod Mills
The Express
STIRLINGSHIRE, Scotland — A trainee paramedic has been suspended while an investigation is carried out into claims she refused to attend a 999 call to a dying baby.
The 28-year-old, who was alone after her partner failed to turn up for work, reportedly refused the order from control room staff.
Two other crews attended the incident in Stirlingshire within seven minutes, but it is thought that the baby died at the scene.
One source claimed the trainee paramedic panicked because she had been left on her own in the ambulance, and told dispatchers: “I’m not going to that.”
The snub was the second blunder surrounding the cot-death tragedy, after BT routed the emergency call to England, wasting valuable minutes.
Last night a source said: “The trainee was asked to attend as she was one of those closest to the scene.
“She has just been very stupid, panicked and refused to go.”
The trainee was on her own in the cab after her partner failed to turn up for a shift. But the Scottish Ambulance Service’s website says its technicians are expected to keep themselves and their vehicles in a “state of readiness”. It’s believed the trainee, from West Lothian, was suspended two weeks ago.
She joined the service in 2006 before later becoming a foundation paramedic, the official term for a trainee.
The source said: “She knows the protocols and should have known better.”
The case has echoes of 999 crewman Owen McLauchlan, who refused to aid dying Mandy Mathieson, 33, in Tomintoul, Moray, because he was on a tea break.
McLauchlan, 23, was suspended last October but is now back at work.
Yesterday, the Scottish Ambulance Service defended the trainee in the latest case and insisted her suspension was normal practice during a probe. A spokesman said the two other crews had been on the scene within seven minutes.
He added: “The investigation is focused on establishing why the call was initially routed elsewhere by BT and the overall response. A member of staff has been suspended pending the outcome.” The tearful trainee refused to comment.
Three years ago, paramedic Alfred Park, 56, sat eating sandwiches as heart attack victim Catherine Cowie, 50, lay dying 300 yards away in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.
Copyright 2011 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
All Rights Reserved