Friday, May 20, 2011

** California paramedic beaten at baseball game still in coma, transferred to SF for further treatment

** South African paramedic stabbed to death while responding to call

UNITED STATES NEWS

** A Santa Clara, California paramedic, beaten into a coma at a March baseball game at Dodger’s Stadium, has been transferred to San Francisco for further treatment. That is the word from NBC Bay Area (May 16) which said Bryan Stow, who works for American Medical Response, will continue his recovery at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center. A statement released late last week indicated Stow remains in a coma and is still in critical condition.

SOUTH AFRICA NEWS

** EMS responders in Kwa-Zulu Natal continue to mourn the loss of a colleague who was murdered during a call Saturday in Escourt. According to The New Age (Chris Makhaye/May 16), practitioner Mphakamiso Mazibuko died after being stabbed by a man who had already murdered his mother. Witnesses said the man set upon both his parents before attacking Mazibuko as he tended them. Armed with a spear and a panga, he first killed the medic before slitting his mother’s throat. Police shot him when he stabbed an officer who had lost his footing. Colleagues of Mazibuko say he was a dedicated and experienced emergency provider who had worked with Emergency Medical Rescue Services since 1984.