In his first call to 911, Curtis Mitchell sounded calm, explaining to dispatchers that his “entire stomach [was] in pain.”
By the time his longtime girlfriend made a 10th call nearly 30 hours later, she was frantic. He wasn’t breathing. He was cold to the touch…
“I sat up here with him, watching him die,” Ms. Edge said Tuesday, after city officials apologized to her and pledged immediate changes in emergency response after Mr. Mitchell’s death on Feb. 7. “They didn’t do their jobs like they were supposed to…”
Ambulances were dispatched three times on Saturday, Feb. 6, to the couple’s home in the 5100 block of narrow Chaplain Way, but couldn’t get there because of the snow. Paramedics twice asked whether Mr. Mitchell could walk to an intersection, even after he told them that he could not because he was in too much pain.
Emergency vehicles were within blocks of his home three times — once so close Ms. Edge could see the ambulance lights from her porch — but did not make contact with him. They finally reached the home on Sunday morning, Feb. 7, but Mr. Mitchell was already dead.
“We should have gotten there,” Public Safety Director Michael Huss said. “It’s that simple.”
Yes – you should have.
But why did they cancel the call when they couldn’t reach him? That alone displays a lot of intent.
Some nitwit politician was on TV saying Hazelwood looked great, so the signal got out and the Guard was caught off guard. You try to help them and they are so corrupt they undermine the people trying to help out. Nice photoops for the mayor. The old corrupt gang just waited and pulled the dead out a week or so after the clearing was done. The logic was, it’s cold so they’ll keep awhile. Cyril will send a van over when it’s clear.
Reminds me of something I heard earlier today, where EMTs let someone die, because they couldn’t get within 1/2 mile, due to their fear of getting stuck in snow, on a side street, in Queens. So now the Fire Department will assist EMTs (like they did before there were EMTs).
This is absurd.
What a whiner! Why should an ambulance just come to you when you call them, and for free, no less?!?!?! What is this, socialism? With stuff like this, we are turning into new USSR. Why didn’t they PAY someone to take them to the hospital, instead of relying on a government entity to do it? Let them die, if they can’t afford the care, or a taxi, or whatever they need to get to the hospital. Those EMTs have a cushy job, and should do REAL work!
They merged 911 to save money, so it’s not redundant. You call and get somebody on the other side of the county. It would of been cheaper to route it through India. You call here and it’s yesterday there and you saved a buck.
The SCOTUS has already ruled that the police have no liability to protect the individual. I would assume that the same would be true with EMTs.
They gave Pittsburgh Police garbled info in the past. They got ambushed. It’s part of a regional planning effort and basic dispatch has been killed and the logistics don’t work. If you call it regional, you can score fed dollars. You can build a tunnel under the river, because it’s regional planning run by an unelected regional government. You can’t vote them out and the ones you vote in are next to useless. It’s shovel ready/dig your own graves style.
They’ve been working on eliminating the office of sheriff and expanding the regional gestapo theories for years. Been busy with legislator trials lately though. The state is planning on charging the bankrupt city for helping with snow removal, so now they are using private contractors without contracts. It’s a state of emergency. Idiots!
RTFA..
You have 2 persons in their 50′s Needing help.
YOU HAVE ACCESS to all city services, and you didnt call a SAND TRUCK/Snow Plow to clear off the street.
They got within 2 blocks of the house.
Enough SNOW to block traffic?? about 30″.
“The third call for an ambulance came nearly five hours later, at 11:17 a.m. Saturday. Mr. Mitchell reported similar abdominal pain, and officials identified “no priority symptoms,” and the call was held because of limited availability, Dr. Roth wrote in his report.
“At this point in time, higher priority calls are being held, there are over 30 calls in the pending queue,” he wrote.
At about 8:15 p.m. Saturday, nine hours later, the call was upgraded to E-1, or higher priority, because Ms. Edge, who had begun making the calls on Mr. Mitchell’s behalf, told call-takers he was short of breath and that they’d been waiting all day.”
ANY of you folks in large cities, Im sorry and pity HOW the city PLOWS STREETS.. “HOW HIGH CAN WE PILE IT” is not a solution to TONS of snow.
And people, that person would have died anyhow even if he got to the hospital. How many times have you waited in ER and see people around bleeding to death, moaning, going nuts, for hours on end.
And Obama wants to throw 8Billion at them for? I hate Sharp hospital in San Diego here FYI Fck them, fck them hard for not even telling patients they are giving them out of network services nor having the clue to begin informing them.
The fact is when the ambulance can’t get through due to snow or other obstruction, one provider should get out of the bus and walk to the scene (if it is safe to do so). Assess the patient and determine the patient’s priority. Call for assistance to get the patient out of the house. Most engine companies have 3 or 4 folks on them. If necessary, you can easily carry someone on a reeves stretcher with four people (one on each corner). The other provider who stayed on the bus can call for a plow. When the plow arrives he can follow the plow to the front door.
To do nothing is inexcusable.
I have a feeling there is more to the story than is in the article. It strikes me that they were going for exactly what you are giving them, an emotional gut response.
#32,
It reads pretty well..
It has the calls, and the response from 911..including personal response from 911.
The problem was the ROADS and weather..AND at the FINAL point, that they didnt send ANYONE in the end.
This reminds me of a call we got when I was on a volunteer ambulance corps in PA as an adolescent. We got a call from dispatch about a woman suffering chest pains, so we roll on it. When we get there it’s this three story row home, and yep, she was on the third floor. So when we get up there my first reaction was, good god – how in the hell are we gonna get her through the door, much less down the steps – she must’ve weighed like 400 pounds. An hour and a half of grunting and groaning and sweat, thats how. I would’ve much preferred going through a couple of blocks in waist high snow. I guess these people getting paid to rescue strangers don’t do as good a job as volunteers rescuing their neighbors.
#34
One’s life is definitely subjective. Problem is stupid people will make more use of the fact and choose otherwise to do nothing instead.
Doesn’t it strike some of your as shocking or even frightening that we have people like this out there “serving” the public? Mind you I’m talking about cops, EMTs, hospitals, and even companies I worked for that makes products for nasa and boeing. Sickening.
But in the end, as in DC comics, evil wins because man just plain suck at standing up. So to most of you at DU, suck it and suck it hard.
35,
I always wonder about persons that Pray for everything.
Praying for a better world when MOST of the problems are those of Mankind’s making, is like Screaming at DADDY that billy HIT YOU.. HIT him back. THEN get off your rump and DO something about it. It will get done Quicker and BETTER.