Paramedics opt for shift change, patient dies
Published: 17 Sep 12 08:56 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/43268/20120917/
A heart patient died after ambulance drivers who received the high priority call just as their shift was ending decided to swing by the station to change drivers, delaying their arrival to the patient's home.
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At the time, they were headed back to the station as their shift had just ended.
But instead of responding directly to the call, the drivers entered the address from which the call was made into their GPS and determined they could still manage to swing by the station on their way, the local Norrköpings Tidiningar (NT) reported.
"That's against guidelines. You don't delay a priority-1 call," Christer Andersson, a doctor with the Linköping University Hospital told the paper.
Andersson explained that the drivers in the ambulance had called ahead to their colleagues to ensure that the change in drivers would happen quickly.
Despite their best efforts, however, the waiting patient died after suffering from cardiac arrest.
Following the fatal incident, which took place on June 5th, 2012, the ambulance drivers estimated that changing drivers delayed their arrival by 50 to 90 seconds.
Andersson has since reported the matter to the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) in accordance with Sweden's Lex-Maria laws, the informal name for regulations governing the reporting of injuries or incidents in the Swedish health care system.
He explained that an autopsy to determine the patient's exact cause of death has yet to be completed.
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So, right at the end, we learn that it is not yet known how the patient died, or if the 50 to 90 second delay had anything to do with it.
Wouldn't it be best for the relatives, the drivers, and even the good doctor, if those vital questions were answered first, and the hue and cry reserved until after?
"an autopsy to determine the patient's exact cause of death has yet to be completed"
It is not surprise that patient has died. Damn lagom everywhere.
Yet people here still thinks government equals responsibility, and private companies equal fraud at every opportunity. But it is private companies' continued existence that depends on their conduct. Government is forever, unconditionally.
Regarding the story, I wonder whether the ambulance crew was acting as an agent of the state providing a public service, whether "tjänstefel" or negligence will come into play, whether the ambulance company was insured against malpractice, or whether some other legal remedies exist (in favor of whom?) should causation between the delay and death be established. I'm not saying the article is insufficient; I'm just curious how a possible wrongful death claim would work in Sweden.
quote: But it is private companies' continued existence that depends on their conduct.unquote
You mean like goldman sachs. :)
In summer, proper health care is not available, fire departments are staffed by unqualified and inexperienced temps, there are fewer cops, etc. etc. only because the employees' right to vacation trumps everything else. Welcome to the uniquely Swedish version of Through the Looking Glass, which often has fatal consequences.
You are absolutely correct. But why expect anything different when these functions are funded by force? Theft and extortion don't change their nature just because they're made legal and grander in scope.
Only a mutually voluntary deal between two parties can ever result in respectful conduct and service from both sides. Force is not a proper way to deal with fellow human beings, unless they, well, force you to.
I disagree with your statement about doctors having extended fika instead of treating patients. My sambo works in an A&E department. I get really annoyed that she will often come home after a 10 hour shift and she won't have had any munch, never mind fika. Why? Because she's been rushed off her feet dealing with patients. On the whole, doctors do care and are dedicated to serving their patients first.
Also, A&E departments need to prioritise based on the severity of the injury. if you come with a slightly broken bone then a stream of more serious incidents come in, the broken bone patient, even though they were there first, get pushed back in the queue.
Um, no, Swedish healthcare is NOT FREE. What it is is UNIVERSAL and that is not the same thing. We all pay for our healthcare system. And it is very expensive, although on a social level rather than an individual level. Imagine all that tax revenue being spent on something else, such as roads or education or the military. It would be an enormous sum of money. So to spend it on healthcare means we give up the opportunity to spend it on something else. This is called opportunity cost. So no, our healthcare system is NOT FREE.
You almost made it to trade-offs until you assumed that the level of taxation sans the obligation to pay for a UNIVERSAL health care system would be the same. How so? Always question your assumptions. Always.
The true opportunity costs arising from paying for Sweden's UNIVERSAL health care system "on a social level" are (1) your opportunity to spend your tax krona on something other than a UNIVERSAL health system, on something that would get you closer to happiness, and (2) the wealth creation that would result if those who know how to make money with money had more money to spend or invest to make money. A rising tide lifts all boats, of course.
I know how Sweden works because I've been here too long. What's your excuse? BTW, the reason I'm not a socialist is that I don't believe that either Rheinfeld, Salin, Oly, or the rest of Sweden's leftist politicians can spend my or Jens Spendrups' money better than I or Jens can, either to attain the common good or merely my own. Do you?
Until the remedies and consquences are appropriately punitive to for-profit firms who underperform in their contracted services... we will continue to see a deterioration of such services.
First, the dispatcher would have sent the call to both the ambulance and the station. We have spare apparatus at all our stations. Both the ambulance ending its shift AND the oncoming shift would have responded.
Whatever ambulance crew arrived first would have started assessment and the crew just coming on would have transported.
In my experience as delay of 50 to 90 seconds would not have affected the outcome.