An ambulance service in the North East of England has apologized to grieving relatives after covering up mistakes made by paramedics in responding to patients who later died.
The CEO of the Northeast Ambulance (NEAS) made his “unreserved apology” for “historic failures” after whistleblowers told the Sunday Times that managers had filtered awkward facts from incident reports before sending them to a medical examiner. to present paramedics in a more flattering light.
Two whistleblowers have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to restrict them from reporting further concerns to authorities, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and police, the Sunday Times reported. .
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
One of the reports covers the treatment by a paramedic of a 17-year-old girl, Queen Evie Beadle, who committed suicide near her home in Shieldon, Durham County, in December 2018.
It wasn’t until much later that her family learned that the first police officers at the scene had started CPR, only to be told by the paramedic “you can stop now, she’s gone” after simply looking into the eyes of Quinn with a flashlight. He then left her face down in the mud, making no effort to clear her airway or continue with basic support, even though her heart was still beating.
NEAS bosses tried to prevent an investigator hearing Quinn’s investigation from finding out the truth by altering the testimony of witnesses from an experienced clinician. The changes removed references to the paramedic’s mistakes and added that any life support offered “would not have a positive result.”
The investigation began in April 2019, but was postponed after the Beadle learned that they had not been told the whole truth about Quinn’s death. The medical examiner said they were concerned about the chronology of events and wanted to seek expert advice on whether the paramedic was right to declare that life had disappeared.
The family then had to wait until October 2020 to hear the investigation. The medical examiner recorded a verdict, saying that although the paramedic did not use a defibrillator on Quinn, there was a “minute chance” that she would be saved. It was too late for Quinn’s brother, Dylan, who took his own life in October 2019, devastated by his sister’s death and her last-minute treatment.
NEAS said: “The medical examiner was critical of our management processes in his narrative judgment, but said he was pleased that the systems we put in place would prevent a recurrence.
The Sunday Times said Quinn’s death could be one of more than 90 cases in the last three years in which the NEAS has failed to provide families with the full truth about how their relatives died.
NEAS will not confirm the existence of an NDA between the service and former employees, but said: “We do not seek to stop employees from making appropriate disclosures to raise concerns.”
Peter Walsh, CEO of the Campaign Against Medical Accidents (AvMA), said: “These revelations are absolutely shocking and show that the culture of cover-up is still penetrating parts of the NHS. This is an example of why we need a legal obligation of openness, but it also shows that it must be imposed. There must be an independent review and the CQC and other regulators must take solid action. “
Helen Ray, CEO of NEAS, said: “We accept that there have been historical omissions and we have heard and acted on the concerns expressed by staff about the quality and timeliness of the documents disclosed to forensic doctors. In our minds are mostly families and we unreservedly apologize for the suffering we have caused them. “
Quinn’s mother, Tracy, said: “We have never received an apology from NEAS and I know that other families have not. They can apologize in the newspapers whatever they want, but until they write me a letter or see me in person and apologize, then I don’t feel that they have apologized to me. ”
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In the United Kingdom, you can contact the Samaritans at 116 123. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Line is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. Other international suicide hotlines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
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