LONDON – A London Ambulance Service (LAS) paramedic crew was assaulted twice in two days by two patients.
Catherine Maynard, a Fulham paramedic, and her colleague responded to a sick person on January 16.
First, a 50-year-old male spat and swore at the crew before assaulting them and wedging himself underneath the ambulance. Police officers managed to extricate the man and he was arrested. He pleaded guilty to five charges of assault and criminal damage and was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison.
Less than 24 hours after the first attack, on January 17 Maynard and her colleague were again assaulted on a call.
When they arrived, the patient they were called to treat became volatile and agitated.
“We were in the back of the ambulance and the man tried to push me out the doors onto the A4,” said Maynard in an LAS press release. “He threw our equipment across the floor and headbutted my male colleague in the chest. Thankfully we managed to subdue him before police arrived.”
In 2014 the LAS reported 415 cases of physical assault and 632 cases of verbal assault against its staff. LAS Director of Operations, Jason Killens, said, “Attacking my ambulance crews as they go about saving lives in the capital will not be tolerated under any circumstances.”
For Maynard, this was the third time she has been assaulted by a patient in five years of paramedic work.
“It’s frustrating that we are sympathetic to so many people, and then we’re treated like this,” said Maynard.
“Medics are already under a great deal of pressure. It is completely unacceptable that they should also face the risk of assault when they go to assist members of the public,” said Killens.
Fulham medic Catherine was almost pushed into the A4 by a patient she was trying to help http://t.co/tXppOR8tu2 pic.twitter.com/w16vIoIooN
— London Ambulance (@Ldn_Ambulance) February 3, 2015