Woman Dies After Ambulance Sent to Wrong Address

[docB]

Georgia Woman Dies After 911 Ambulence Went to the Wrong Address
Rough break. Sounds like it was an honest mistake (Wells instead of Wales street). However I imagine there was some procedure about checking cell location against the map grid that wasn't followed and that's why the dispatcher was fired.

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[Blahblahologist]

I'm more than sympathetic. My service covers six communities in southwestern Pennsylvania, and there's a fair amount of repetition of street names between them. Usually dispatch is good about mentioning the name of the borough, but occasionally they don't, or we don't hear it.

Which explains how my partner and I ended up at the correct address six miles from where we should have been.

Happily, the call was for knee pain x2 days and the guy was just happy to get a ride to the hospital, 33 minute response time or no.

 

[deleted92121]

I'm more than sympathetic. My service covers six communities in southwestern Pennsylvania, and there's a fair amount of repetition of street names between them. Usually dispatch is good about mentioning the name of the borough, but occasionally they don't, or we don't hear it.

Which explains how my partner and I ended up at the correct address six miles from where we should have been.

Happily, the call was for knee pain x2 days and the guy was just happy to get a ride to the hospital, 33 minute response time or no.

Where you run in SW PA?

 

[leviathan]

I'm more than sympathetic. My service covers six communities in southwestern Pennsylvania, and there's a fair amount of repetition of street names between them. Usually dispatch is good about mentioning the name of the borough, but occasionally they don't, or we don't hear it.

Which explains how my partner and I ended up at the correct address six miles from where we should have been.

Happily, the call was for knee pain x2 days and the guy was just happy to get a ride to the hospital, 33 minute response time or no.

Our datahead often comes up with an address along with directions, and it isn't a rare occurrence when the two do not match up. E.g., it will say to head to an address that is "10 km outside of city XYZ" when in fact that address is 25 km on the OTHER side of the city.

 

[pseudoknot]

A little bit more on this call:
http://www.ajc.com/mero/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/08/06/emergency_0807.html

 

[docB]

A little bit more on this call:
http://www.ajc.com/mero/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/08/06/emergency_0807.html

There are some particularly interesting points in this article. The most glaring of which is the cop who is now on the warpath against EMS 'cause God knows the police NEVER mess up.

The Johns Creek police officer who worked to revive the woman while waiting on an ambulance, said he was frustrated by the series of mistakes leading up to her death.

Johns Creek police Cpl. James Harris raised a red flag after Dukes died at 3:01 p.m., noting the discrepancies in the response time.

"I saw what had happened, and said, 'Not on my watch,' " the 17-year law enforcement veteran said Wednesday.

Harris was the second officer to arrive at her home 25 minutes after she placed her call.

They found Dukes not breathing and began administering CPR while Harris, a fellow officer, and Fulton County Fire paramedics also at the scene called repeatedly for an ambulance.

"The firemen had already been asking for an ETA," with no response, Harris said.

When he tried to get help on his police radio, he was told the nearest ambulance was about 13 minutes away.

"I said, 'That's not good enough! We've got a woman in full arrest,'" Harris said.

Twice before the ambulance arrived, Dukes' heart began beating again, but she kept slipping away.

Hours after Dukes died Saturday, Harris requested records from Fulton Emergency Management Agency to learn more about what led up to the incident.

When Fulton EMA refused, he filed a written request for the audiotape of her call to 911 and transcripts, both of which are public records. He was still waiting for them on Wednesday night.

I really enjoyed this nugget:

"It's just hard to wrap my mind around it," Harris said. "That you have the possibility to do some good for somebody and you just can't because of somebody else's errors."

I gotta tell you dude I spend plenty of time cleaning up after the errors of law enforcement. People put on mental health holds inappropriately, people with injuries sustained while "resisting", people you gave the old "You can go to jail or go to the ER." bit to. Just get back in your glass house and give it a rest.

Dukes' family, in Atlanta from New York on Tuesday, were angry to learn of the 911 delay from reporters rather than from the county.

When she learned of the delay, mother Ida Dukes seemed stunned. "Her sons are being destroyed by their mother's death. Something went wrong and I'd like to find out what."

I'm sure she meant to say her attorney would like to find out what happened. Or not. Just send cash.

Obviously this patient suffered some massive insult (I'm sure they're just guessing about the PE because it's too early for an autopsy to have been done). It's unlikely that a shorter response time would have changed the outcome although it might have saved them from the lawsuit.

It's not that the system doesn't need improvement but given that there's a whole country out there abusing EMS for rides and primary care with some real emergencies sprinkeld in to make it dangerous it's surprising to me that this type of thing isn't more common. I feel bad for the scapegoat and I think Cpl. Harris needs to stuff it.

 

[pseudoknot]

It's not that the system doesn't need improvement but given that there's a whole country out there abusing EMS for rides and primary care with some real emergencies sprinkeld in to make it dangerous it's surprising to me that this type of thing isn't more common. I feel bad for the scapegoat and I think Cpl. Harris needs to stuff it.

I hate to disagree with the illustrious docB, but I'm just not sure about this one. I didn't think the officer was on the warpath against EMS in general so much as their dispatch system. Since apparently the dispatch system's solution to this problem is to say to its personnel "don't ever screw up or you're fired," I'm not sure how much faith I could place in their management.

As for feeling bad for the scapegoat, I think that's exactly what Cpl Harris was saying too.

Doesn't it seem like they could perhaps flag similar-sounding streets in their CAD system or something?

 

[MedicFL]

If this article is correct it said there were Fire Paramedics on scene. SO I agree the delayed ETA wouldn't have changed anything.. ALS is ALS whether id happens in the hospital or an ambulance.. This COP is way out of line making statements like that to the media and requesting reports, thats not his place he is def on a warpath.. I do feel bad for this women but I think that after the autopsy I hope they dont have a leg to stand on for the lawsuit..Mistakes do happen and many times it comes from bad information that the 911 caller gives over the phone. Not all 911 systems can back track a phone esp a cell phone.. I can't tell you how many calls we have gone on to the wrong address only to have dispatch call back and the people made a mistake or you never get an answer at all..

 

[pseudoknot]

If this article is correct it said there were Fire Paramedics on scene. SO I agree the delayed ETA wouldn't have changed anything.. ALS is ALS whether id happens in the hospital or an ambulance..

The article said the first paramedics arrived at 1339 and the 911 call was placed at 1300. The caller became unresponsive at 1318, so she was likely dead well before anyone arrived on scene.

This COP is way out of line making statements like that to the media and requesting reports, thats not his place he is def on a warpath..

I don't think it's out of line to request public information or to follow up on bad incidents.

Mistakes do happen and many times it comes from bad information that the 911 caller gives over the phone. Not all 911 systems can back track a phone esp a cell phone.. I can't tell you how many calls we have gone on to the wrong address only to have dispatch call back and the people made a mistake or you never get an answer at all..

Perhaps, but all parties agree here that the information was available to the dispatch center.

It's not just the officer, remember. From the article:

[Eric Ossman, the medical director for Grady ambulance service] said Dukes' death is an indictment on an emergency call center that has long suffered mismanagement, short staffing and inadequate training.

"Unfortunately, this poor woman has been terminated," he said. "She has been categorized as being at the root of all this. In reality, these issues were happening in the communications center at Fulton County long before this woman. This is not about one bad employee. ... This one poor woman is not responsible for all this."

 

[docB]

I don't think it's out of line to request public information or to follow up on bad incidents.

No but airing this kind of thing to the press is not cool. I've known people in EMS who said things to reporters that the police didn't want out and it didn't go well for them.

 

[pseudoknot]

Saw this today:
http://www.jems.com/news_and_articles/news/911_system_bashed.html

It sounds like a lot more people than just that cop and the medical director think there are systematic problems with that dispatch center.

 

[MacBook]

It happens. Had a call last year where we were sent to a campground for a 911 call. An code in progress. When we got there, no one was even aware 911 had been called so we went to the GPS location given which happend to be a cell phone tower. When the caller called back, the campground manager was now aware that we had indeed made it to right location.
Once we got on scene there was obvious rigor mortis. Took a weight off my shoulders. A good lesson learned tho-You can only do with what you have. Mistakes like that happen and that's life. You just have to hope it doesn't happen the day you are really needed.