Badly burned 1-year-old denied ambulance

Published: 9 Aug 09 10:23 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/21188/20090809/

Dictionary tool Double click on a word to get a translation

Swedish emergency services are to launch an internal investigation after a one-year-old boy who received second degree burns was denied an ambulance, reported Aftonbladet newspaper.

The boy had spilled a cup of hot tea on himself on Thursday and was burned on his face, neck and trunk. His mother immediately called SOS Alarm, the agency responsible for handling 112 emergency calls and coordinating rescue work. She was told that they should go to the hospital on their own.

The journey to Huddinge Hospital took forty minutes. In Huddinge, the boy's condition was deemed serious and he was taken by ambulance to Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital.

“What has happened is extremely unfortunate. It appears that we should have sent an ambulance. But I want to review the conversation before I say anything more,” Britt Stålhandske, deputy director of operations at SOS Alarm in Stockholm, told Aftonbladet.

On Sunday, Aftonbladet reported of another incident in Falun in central Sweden involving a one-year-old with blood poisoning and a fever of 39.2 degrees Celsius who was also denied an ambulance. The incident has since been reported to the National Board of Health and Welfare.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

What do you think? Leave your comment below.

Fark It! Digg This Facebook  Share everywhere
Send to a friend Printable version Twitter This

Your comments about this article:

The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated. Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.

09:17 August 10, 2009 by Che-che
My first two weeks in Stockholm, I saw a woman trip and fall down a short flight of stairs and land flat on her face in front of a residential building. I argued with the 112 operator to send an ambulance for nearly 10 minutes as this woman was profusely bleeding from her face- and not to mention in agonizing pain. The woman was was over 80 years old, spoke no English, I spoke no Swedish and the operator wanted me to hail a cab and put her in it and send her on her way. All this while 4 people walked by looking, "but not looking"- A man who was doing work on the outside of the building must have heard the argument and made himself known to me and rang a second time to 112 and finally had someone who thought it was serious enough to send an ambulance.

On the flip-side, I fainted once while in Sweden and the ambulance was there very fast (so I was told).

I guess it depends who you get on the phone- there should be some kind of an s.o.p. for this.
10:52 August 10, 2009 by krzyz21
I know an incident where a pregnant woman, bleeding profusely in the middle of the night was denied ambulance service. The reason, you stay very close to the hospital that you can walk and if you can not walk, take a taxi. But the idiot didn't understand that she was bleeding profusely and this is middle of the night. The woman fainted as soon as she was out of the building. (I don't really blame them for just starting to walk as even they thought that they would make it to the hospital without any problem.) Fortunately, couple of girls walking home and a bus driver that was about leave the bus stop saw the woman fainting. All of these folks helped the couple to reach the hospital.

They did complain to the doctor and the doctor confirmed them that he will look into it but no follow up was done.

Say it loudly folks, Jag bör in Sverige.
11:53 August 10, 2009 by Puffin
You ought to go in Sweden ....what??????

Or did you mean

"Jag bor i Sverige"? (I live in Sweden)

Perhaps this explains the problem - noone could understand you
12:25 August 10, 2009 by svenskdod
@Puffin

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Wasn't Sweden hailed as having the best healthcare systems in the world a few years ago?

Can anyone say "cutbacks?" It would not suprise me if it was found that the opperators had been told by their supervisors to "filter" the calls. This in turn had come down from the top in a way to bring the Healthcare budget down.

The economy is bad, but people are surviving. If this gets any worse, people will die.

All this when things like asylum seekers are given a free ride for three years. Maybe some of that money could go into the healthcare budget?
14:07 August 10, 2009 by Puffin
Love the clichés

I think that part of the problem of this case lies in the fact that

a. the mother was a nurse

b. the accident at face value did not sound serious

The fact that a very calm mother (who was calm enough to drive) rang to say that her child had split a cup of tea on himself - probably a mixture of her calm demenour and the nature of the accident gave the impression that this was a minor domestic accident (wrongly ovbiously) - we had the same problem in Norway when our daughter had a serious accident (falling 10 feet onto her head from a sleeping loft) - where because Mr Puffin works in healthcare and was so calm on the phone they did not realise that the accident was serious - but as soon as they did they swung into action - as they did in this case.

Of course the nurse on duty at SOS filters the calls and prioritises ambulances to serious cases - Obviously it was really the wrong decision in this case - yet in 99.9% of cases spilling a hot drink on a child results in very minor injuries - so what they need is better procedures to identify the really serious cases.
17:39 August 10, 2009 by I Love it when ...
thats pretty vile of the ambulance ... hope the baby is alright
23:33 August 10, 2009 by xykat
This doesn't surprise me.

I hope there is an investigation and someone gets fired for this but it probably will just be ignored.

A social health system is great but there needs to be checks and balances. Doctors and medical staff need to be punished if they make major mistakes especially if it costs someone their lives or permanent damage to their bodies.
12:31 August 11, 2009 by Hedley
I am a non EU medical doctor (a baddy one?). An dispatcher may be not a medical doctor; but is mom did not give enough data (at that time) or he did not ask the right questions.

In my believe, he deserve punishment if he did not ask the right questions or he violated the protocol.

A child (less than 10 years old) have a very small amount of skin area. Face, trunk and neck may compromise more than a half of body surface if there is not spared regions (every part of them?). If anterior neck is involved and or face airway could be compromised and the child could die at any moment in the way to the hospital.

Also, this is a major burn: more than a half of skin may be involved!!! The first barrier of immune system is totally breached. He is prone to infectious diseases within the hospital that are really hard die bugs, regardless the delay in the ambulance... so there is a chance that this child can die anyway!
ADD YOUR COMMENT   (YOU MUST LOG IN OR REGISTER TO MAKE A COMMENT)
Today's headlines
50,000 Swedish households without water

50,000 Swedish households without water

More than 50,000 households in the Karlstad region in western Sweden were without water on Saturday due a serious water leak. Although service has been restored, residents are advised to boil drinking water for the next several days. READ (2 COMMENTS) »

Roddick trumps Söderling in semi-finals

American tennis star Andy Roddick beat sixth-seeded Swede Robin Söderling on Saturday in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 on Saturday. Roddick will now face Ivan Ljubicic in Sunday's tennis final. READ (1 COMMENT) »

Swedish woman faces charges for falsely accusing father of rape

A young Swedish woman who falsely accused her father of rape will now face charges of her own. The father had received a five-year prison sentence in 2007 after the then 17-year-old girl reported he had sexually assaulted her. READ (7 COMMENTS) »

16-year-old arrested for attempted murder

A 19-year-old male sustained serious injuries during a knife fight on Saturday night in the neighborhood of Varberga in Örebro in central Sweden. Another 16-year-old boy was later arrested for the assault. READ »

Risk of Easter strike looms

Negotiations between the Commercial Employees´ Union (Handelsanställdas förbund) and the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel) employers' organisation have stalled, according to the trade union. READ »

Human trafficking pair imprisoned on appeal

In the first case of its kind in Sweden, a Stockholm court has found two men guilty of human trafficking after they lured two teenage boys from their home in Romania to a life of crime. READ (8 COMMENTS) »

Annika Östberg moved to rehabilitation centre

Sweden’s convicted double murderer Annika Östberg Deasy, who is due to be released in May 2011, has been moved from a female prison to a rehabilitation centre where she will work at a day nursery for dogs. READ »

Reinfeldt leads voter support poll

Reinfeldt leads voter support poll

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt retains his position at the top of the party leader board in a new survey on voter confidence while support for opposition leader Mona Sahlin continues to decline. READ (8 COMMENTS) »

More National

Blog Update: 110% LAGOM

21 March 11:10

Result! »

"If you read Swedish, the CCCC review is as good as it gets, if not the picture of the crowd speaks a thousand words..." READ »

Highlights
RESTAURANTS »
Find a table at Sweden's best restaurants - then review them on The Local in our new restaurant section
Photo: www.stureplan.se
GALLERY »
Out on the town: March 12-13
Photo: www.erikolsson.se
GALLERY »
Property of the Week
Photo: Chesty Morgan
LIFESTYLE »
What's On in Sweden: March 19th - 25th: Chesty Morgan in Stockholm, Cameroonian Jazz in Gothenburg, a spin on Cinderella in Malmö, English comedy in Linköping.
March in Sweden: Slush, bears and skiing royals
LIFESTYLE »
March in Sweden: Slush, bears and skiing royals
Photo: www.finest.se
GALLERY »
The weekend's 'finest': March 12-13
Photo: Anastasia Pirvu
GALLERY »
Stockholm/Uppsala Street Style, March 7-8
Photo: Piteå Kommun
SPONSORED ARTICLE
Swedish Rail Destinations with SJ: Piteå is best known as a summer destination, but wintertime offers skating across the ice in the Gulf of Botnia and cosy dinners in the pretty town centre.
Latest news from The Local in Germany
Blog
  • 5 questions for Maria Ernestam
    The novels of journalist-become-author Maria Ernestam are both serious and humorous. Sometimes compared with works by Isabel Allende, Fay Weldon, Ingrid Noll and Ruth Rendell, Ernestam's books have...
  • Film studio Sweden
    Sweden — with its midnight sun, northern lights and areas with certainty of snow — is attracting filmmakers from all around the world. Besides an exotic environment, Sweden has other advantages as a...
  • Veronica Hedenmark
    “I’d like to travel and fly without having to think about the practical arrangements — but the practical part severely restricts my movements,” says entrepreneur Veronica Hedenmark, who uses an...
  • Victoria Webster
    Victoria Webster became Sweden’s first specialist in emergency medical care. This attracted considerable media attention, since she has a cerebral palsy (CP)* disorder.
Essentials

Jobs - in Sweden, in English
Get your career on track with our job listings from Sweden's top employers.

Property - renting or buying in Sweden
Navigating the minefield of renting or buying an apartment or house in Sweden.

Weather
"There is no bad weather, just bad clothes," say the Swedes. Here's the forecast for everyone else.

Introducing...
Every week The Local serves up a spicy helping of Swedish celebrity for your delectation.

Stockholm Syndrome
Tales of crazy Swedish classes, hamfisted attempts to understand - and explain - real Swedes, and varied experiences of fellow foreigners gathered for your amusement.

Search News


Register

Register now for:
> Free use of noticeboard
> Special discounts
> Weekly news roundup
> Unlimited use of discuss

REGISTER FOR FREE »

Jobs in Sweden, in English

431 jobs in Sweden, in English
130 new jobs this week
3 new jobs today

ALL JOBS »

Doctor of Psychology
Therapy in English

David Schultz PsyD
Individuals & couples
In Stockholm in person or by phone or video conferencing
www.anxiousorblue.se
Play football in Stockholm
Kick-off the new football season with LFC, Stockholm's premier English-speaking football club.
MORE INFO
JOB: Digital Ad Operations Coordinator - Stockholm
The Local seeks a digital advertising specialist to administer advertising operations for our network of sites
FULL JOB DETAILS
Lovely Weekly Apartment Rental-Stockholm
Charming apartment in Lidingö that overlooks the forest, sea and city! 60 sq m, 2 rooms, sleeps 2-4 people. 7969 sek/week.
MORE INFO
Counseling in English Individuals & Couples - Stockholm
Beth Rogerson PhD - Clinical, Marriage & Family Therapist
Click or call 08-5580 1266 now
JOB: Sales manager - Stockholm
The Local is seeking a talented media sales professional to drive our online advertising sales
FULL JOB DETAILS
Visiting Stockholm?
Then you'll find The Local's new Stockholm Section useful. Find pics, guides, news and lots of useful information about Stockholm.
www.thelocal.se/stockholm
The Local's new Marketplace
Find products and services that are specifically focused on English speakers living in Sweden!
FULL DETAILS
Welcome to Adlon Hotel in Stockholm
A perfect location both for business and pleasure. Centrally located, with atmosphere.
www.adlon.se
Winter archipelago tours
Visit Stockholm's beautiful archipelago. Great boat tours for all preferences.
MORE INFORMATION