By Jennifer Cockerell
Press Association
BRIGHTON, England — A paramedic refused to resuscitate a man he had been called out to treat and then told a series of lies to cover his tracks, a court heard today.
Karl Harris, 45, told his less-experienced colleague there was “no point’’ in attempting to resuscitate Barry Baker after the pair were sent to his home in Brighton, East Sussex, in the early hours of the morning, the court was told.
The 59-year-old, who lived alone, phoned 999 after experiencing breathing difficulties at 4.14am on November 29 2008 and died after suffering a cardiopulmonary arrest.
Opening the case for the prosecution at Lewes Crown Court, Richard Barton told jurors that unknown to Harris and trainee technician Ben Stokes, the operator stayed on the line after they arrived at the house and heard that they did not attempt a resuscitation.
The jury was played a recording of the emergency call, in which 30-stone Mr Baker’s laboured, heavy breathing could be heard, before Harris and Mr Stokes entered the house and spoke to him six minutes later.
Minutes later a loud thump was audible, which Mr Barton said was the sound of Mr Baker falling to the ground.
Harris’s comments to his colleague could not be heard, but Mr Barton said that he told him: “He’s dead. There’s no point (in resuscitating him). I’ve seen this before.
“It’s not a viable resuscitation. Don’t bother.’'
Jurors also then heard the call Harris made to police to ask them to attend the scene, in which he said Mr Baker was already collapsed when they arrived.
“There’s not a lot we can do really,’' he is heard to say.
‘Right state’
Describing the house as a “right old state’’, he told police that Mr Baker’s body was wedged between books and CDs and could not be moved by him and Mr Stokes, 35, alone.
Addressing jurors, Mr Barton said: “It is the Crown’s case that Karl Harris, this defendant, didn’t act in accordance with his qualifications and his experience, and contrary to all of that he omitted to resuscitate a patient whom he ought to have tried to resuscitate.
“It is the Crown’s case that having done that, in order to cover up his omissions, he told lies to the police officers that attended the scene immediately afterwards.
“He repeated those lies to his bosses that night and he went on to falsify paperwork in order to cover up what he had done.’'
Mr Barton said that it was not alleged that Harris caused Mr Baker’s death, as medical evidence suggested he would not have survived anyway.
He added: “But it is the Crown’s case, firstly, that this defendant simply could not have known that at the time, at the scene.
“And secondly, by this conduct he was effectively extinguishing any last chance of survival because there was no resuscitation.’'
Harris, of Tophill Close, Portslade, was suspended from his role at South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust following Mr Baker’s death.
He denies a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Senior worker
Mr Barton said it was Harris, as the more senior worker, who made all the decisions and told Mr Stokes what to do during the call-out. The pair had never worked together before.
He said that guidelines applying to ambulance clinicians state that “vigorous resuscitation attempts must be undertaken whenever there is a chance of survival, however remote’’.
If a patient collapses, these attempts should last for a period of around 20 minutes before it can be decided that it is too late and they are dead.
Mr Barton went on: “It is the Crown’s case that this defendant was fully aware of this, and in his experience would have had to deal with this on a regular basis and would have known that his obligation was to make all the efforts he could to resuscitate.
“It is the Crown’s case that on that night, he ignored all of that training and all of his experience and he made a snap decision. That snap decision was that Barry Baker was already dead and so he would not try to resuscitate him.’'
The six man, six woman jury was shown photographs of Mr Baker’s blanket-covered body lying on the floor, and others of the house, which was described as being “in a rather untidy state’’.
Lived alone
The court heard that Mr Baker, who had lived alone in Braybon Avenue since the death of his parents in the mid-1970s, lived a “reclusive’’ lifestyle and rarely invited his friends back to the detached house.
“As the years went on, the house became rather cluttered and was in somewhat a dishevelled state,’' Mr Barton said.
He had worked in the city’s Job Centre for 42 years, but had a double hip replacement in 2007 and resorted to using crutches to get around.
Mr Barton said that Mr Baker’s weight went up from around 20 stone in September 2007 to 30 stone by the time he died.
It was a combination of his lack of mobility and the thrombosis of the legs he suffered which led to his death, he said.
Giving evidence this afternoon, Mr Stokes said Mr Baker was standing in the doorway of his house when he and Harris arrived.
Within around two minutes of them getting there he collapsed, and Mr Stokes said he bent down to check for a response when Harris told him not to bother as it was not a “viable resuscitation’’.
When he queried this, he said Harris told him they would just say the patient was already dead when they arrived.
When asked by Mr Barton how this made him feel, Mr Stokes told jurors: “I felt quite sick really at the time. I’d never witnessed anybody go down like that.
“One of my initial thoughts was there’s a chance to actually help somebody.’'
He added that Harris gave him a number of justifications for not taking any further action, such as that he was too heavy for them to lift, and insisted “more than once’’ that it would be fine just to say that Mr Baker had already died.
Mr Stokes continued: “I felt a bit shocked and upset, but also he’d justified it so well and calmly; the impracticalities of being able to do a resuscitation, the limited amount of space, the time it would have taken for anyone else to have assisted us.’'
He said he and Harris were also alarmed that the gas oven was on with its door open while a gas fire in the living room was burning its surround, and they were both “shocked at the degenerative state of the place’’.
Mr Stokes said that he and his colleague then returned to the ambulance where Harris filled in a number of forms in which he wrote that Mr Baker was dead when they arrived.
He said he “felt obliged’’ to sign his name on the paperwork as well.
The trial was adjourned until Monday.
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