An ambulance driver on an emergency call-out on Thursday was found to be over the limit, according to the Policía Local of the city of Granada.
It was a witness at the pick up point that thought that the driver sounded and looked drunk; hence the ambulance being pulled over with the body onboard.
They found that the ambulance driver gave a reading of 0.65 mg/l whereas the maximum for a professional driver is only 0.15 mg/l.
It turned out that the victim that the driver was going to pick up had died inside his ambulance prior to being stopped.
The person who had called for an ambulance stated that it took an hour and a half to arrive despite the fact that the 75-year-old victim lived next to the Centro de Salud de Poeta Gracián.
The 75-year-old victim, who needed urgent treatment at the general hospital of San Cecilio del PTS, died moments after entering the ambulance.
A police communiqué states that they do not know of any previous circumstances that should be taken into consideration nor can they be certain there exists a relation between the tardiness of the driver and his consumption of alcohol.
(News: City & Metropolitan, Granada, Andalucia)
Patrick: there are two kinds of ambulances here: one that is purely transport and the other which is for emergencies and have a paramedic on board.
We don’t know which it was but it might well have been just a transport one for ferrying people to hospitals for treatment and appointments. For example, if you have to go up to Granada for radiotherapy appointments, an ambulance will take you up there and pick up other people for the same reason enroute.
The drivers of transport ambulances are not paramedically trained. If the 75-year-old man was just feeling very poorly, then he would be transported by ambulance. If he were involved in an accident or suffering a heart attack, then an emergency ambulance would have been sent.
Sorry I’m a bit out of touch. I know it’s the UK that has at least one person in the back of an ambulance.
Is this not the case in an emergency here? Do they just walk you on, sit or lie you down and trundle off to a hospital? Are they on call? So maybe prone to a beer at home…
I understand the private ambulances situation . But emergencies?