A doctor from Mureş Ambulance Service (Romania) is being investigated after allegedly refusing to go to a patient who choked on food and subsequently died. The doctor reportedly said that his shift had ended, so the ambulance went to the emergency without a doctor.
The head of the Emergency Department, Raed Arafat, stated that there is an ongoing investigation in this case.
"The situation is as follows: Since Friday, I was informed from Mureş that a SMURD first aid team was dispatched, very close to the case of an elderly man who choked on food.
The doctor on duty at the Integrated Dispatch Center 112, who is an emergency doctor, sent the closest first aid team, but also sent a team with a doctor. He had two options: to send an Intensive Care Unit vehicle from SMURD, which was at another case attending to another patient. The alternative was a team with a doctor from the Ambulance Service, and that's what he did.
He sent, with a two-minute difference, a team from the Ambulance Service, which had a doctor on board, confirming this and that the doctor was at the station. Later, it was found out that on the scene, in support of the first aid team, an emergency vehicle arrived that was supposed to have a doctor on board, but without that doctor, only with an assistant," Raed Arafat reported.
The resuscitation maneuvers initiated by the first aid team were continued, but unfortunately, the patient did not respond and was declared deceased.
The doctor was finishing his shift in 40 minutes
Later, Arafat continued, a team from the Emergency Department sent there since Sunday evening investigated the case and found that the call was made to the ambulance around 20:18, to send the doctor to the case.
"The doctor's shift was ending at 21:00, the doctor did not leave with the ambulance, there were discussions, and there are statements showing that there were discussions with his colleagues to get in the vehicle and go to the case, but he still did not get in the car and did not go to the case.
The vehicle left only with an assistant, without informing the dispatch center that it was without that doctor. Only later did the dispatch center find out about this," Arafat specified.
The Emergency Department team sent to investigate took all the necessary statements, and among other things, the doctor allegedly said that his shift ended at 21:00 and that he did not go to the case because he knew he would be late and would only return after the end of his shift if he went to that case.
"If he said so, it would be downright hilarious because even if you have one minute left of your shift or even if you are right at the end of your shift, you cannot leave if your replacement has not arrived and you have an emergency of this nature! That's the logic of emergency services. What would it mean if firefighters said they wouldn't go to a fire because their shift was ending and wait for their replacement to arrive, let it burn! It doesn't work like that!" Arafat said.