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Stroke Patient Dies After Ambulance Driver Clocks Out

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-put-in-my-forty dept.

After suffering a stroke, 69-year-old Ali Asghar was unlucky enough to get an ambulance driver who really, really, hated overtime. The driver allegedly refused to work beyond his shift and clocked out part-way through the trip to the hospital. Since it was 15 minutes past quitting time, the ambulance was taken to the depot where the next shift's driver took over and finally brought Mr. Asghar to the hospital. Asghar deteriorated during the drive and died soon after arriving at North Tees hospital's accident and emergency unit. An NHS source said, "Paramedics pride themselves on the public being able to feel they are in the best hands when they are called out to an emergency. If this person wanted a nine to five job he should not have become a paramedic. A couple of minutes in a life or death situation is a very long time. Skimming off just a few seconds from an emergency call-out can save lives — that's why ambulances are fitted with blue lights and sirens."

19 comments

  1. Sounds like a... by WgT2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...Union shop.

    1. Re:Sounds like a... by Ouchie · · Score: 1

      Sounds like someone will soon be a volunteer paramedic since that is likely to end his paid career.

      --
      "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." ~Ozzy Osborne
    2. Re:Sounds like a... by Nutria · · Score: 1

      good example of government-run health "care".

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    3. Re:Sounds like a... by oneirophrenos · · Score: 1

      good example of government-run health "care".

      Yeah, 'cause the US doesn't have HMO horror stories...

    4. Re:Sounds like a... by Nutria · · Score: 1

      Yeah, 'cause the US doesn't have HMO horror stories...

      Just because I don't want an NHS doesn't mean that I'm blind to the inadequacies of the current system.

      It's simply an effort to remind Americans that single-payer is not a wonder panacea.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    5. Re:Sounds like a... by NekSnappa · · Score: 1

      You do realize that there is nothing about single payer in the current legislation.

      --
      I want to shoot the messenger!
    6. Re:Sounds like a... by Nutria · · Score: 1

      You do realize that there is nothing about single payer in the current legislation.

      Didn't say there was...

      But there are lots of people who think that single-payer is the answer to a maiden's prayer, and I think they need 40-50 whacks with a hardwood clue stick.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    7. Re:Sounds like a... by hedwards · · Score: 1

      How exactly is the union bashing here insightful?

      I'm in a union and because we can't just take off on strike or necessary when we are supposed to go home, the contract has provisions for that. No union is ever going to demand that sort of provision, at best it's bad for business at worst it costs lives.

    8. Re:Sounds like a... by Hotawa+Hawk-eye · · Score: 1

      Even if by some miracle he keeps his job, he'll essentially be a volunteer when the inevitable law suit by the patient's next-of-kin is done, assuming that the description of the situation in the article is accurate.

    9. Re:Sounds like a... by Max+Littlemore · · Score: 1

      This story has nothing to do with government funding or otherwise. There's even a quote from an NHS official saying this guy shouldn't be a paramedic.

      Can you please explain to how the "this individual is a dick head therefore government healthcare sucks" argument actually works? I mean explain it so it makes sense and so you don't wind up looking even stupider?

      Didn't think so.p>

      --
      I don't therefore I'm not.
    10. Re:Sounds like a... by Nutria · · Score: 1

      This story has nothing to do with government funding or otherwise.

      It has everything to do with the type of person that governments hire.

      There's even a quote from an NHS official saying this guy shouldn't be a paramedic.

      As if they'd say anything else. Anyway, if he shouldn't be a paramedic, why did they hire him???

      I mean explain it so it makes sense

      Because government bureaucracies are designed to follow "process" designed by politically-influenced dead-heads who can't find productive work in the private sector. And that "process" never includes doing the best job possible for a reasonable price; it's all about "fairness" and the rice bowl.

      Didn't think so.p>

      Your rhetorical skills underwhelm me.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    11. Re:Sounds like a... by Max+Littlemore · · Score: 1

      As if they'd say anything else. Anyway, if he shouldn't be a paramedic, why did they hire him???

      For the same reasons a private company would hire him. He would have to pass his training and an interview process. I'm sure that private or public control would have little impact on whether this fuck knuckle would have been weeded out.

      Captains of oil tankers have been known to get pissed and cause oil spills, private traders have brought world economies to their knees, deliberate chemical spills in ground water, fast food that causes diabetes and obesity being pushed on kids in such a way that eating it's a social norm, years of big tobacco, etc etc etc. Thank you private enterprise and the free market!!!

      With private enterprise you risk the side effects of greed and incompetence. At least with democratic governments the greed part is largely eliminated. (except of course when private enterprise has undue influence over government....)

      Because government bureaucracies are designed to follow "process" designed by politically-influenced dead-heads who can't find productive work in the private sector. And that "process" never includes doing the best job possible for a reasonable price; it's all about "fairness" and the rice bowl.

      Government bureaucracies and coporate entities are actually very similar when it comes to following process. Especially when the law and peoples lives are at stake.

      The difference between them is motivation. The motivation of business is profit, pure and simple. Very occasionally that involves the best job at a low price, but all too often it involves the cheapest job at the highest price you can get away with plus marketing and spin. The profit motive encourages risk taking. It encourages cutting corners.

      I'm not saying public control is always better than private. I'm just saying that they each have their short comings and each have their place and comparing US health care with Australia or the UK shows that when it comes to health care across society, public does better because public health is motivated by people not losing their jobs at the next election rather than profit.

      And your knee jerk "this guy is a dick head therefore public health sux" argument still looks thoughtless - like you really didn't think it through or are ignorant of how business and government really work. You rabid capitalists are as bad as rabid socialists.

      --
      I don't therefore I'm not.
    12. Re:Sounds like a... by Nutria · · Score: 1

      public does better because public health is motivated by people not losing their jobs at the next election rather than profit.

      I'm sure it is, but good intentions don't pay the bills. Put more crudely: spit in one hand, and wish in the other, and guess which hand fills up first.

      My cousin in a new MD who got a nice 6 month trip to NZ as a contract psychiatrist (yes, that's her specialty) because NZ pays full-time doctors so little that no one wants to work there.

      And then there the constant running out of money:
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10575739&pnum=0

      Immigration New Zealand has told one pregnant woman that - despite her financial stability - she would "be putting an additional strain on our already short services", which the department claimed were "stretched in most areas of the country".

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  2. Can someone explain the photo by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Can someone explain why they're using American ambulances in North East England?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Not in the US... by Qubit · · Score: 1

    that's why ambulances are fitted with blue lights and sirens.

    Maybe in the UK, but in the US I believe that flashing blue lights are strictly reserved for law enforcement.

    Is there another color reserved for law enforcement in the UK, or is it just kind of a pick-your-own-color free for all amongst the emergency services? :-)

    --

    coding is life /* the rest is */
    1. Re:Not in the US... by xaxa · · Score: 1

      Blue lights are reserved for emergency vehicles (fire, police, ambulance etc). They all use blue..

      For more information than you could possible want, try here.

  4. Wow by DaMattster · · Score: 1

    Unbelievable! I am a paramedic and I hope that fuck tard gets fired and brought up on criminal negligence charges.

  5. blue lights in UK by fantomas · · Score: 1

    Emergency services in the UK all use flashing blue lights. e.g. see The Highway Code, Rule 31.

  6. Sad by MikePo · · Score: 1

    Truly sad, he tainted a noble profession and should be arrested and sent to jail for a very long time.