** Texas paramedic passes away unexpectedly while responding to call
** Welsh stroke patient 500 yards from hospital dies after 1 hour EMS wait
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A Leon County, Texas paramedic is dead after suffering a cardiac arrest Saturday while responding to a call. KBTX (September 15) said Michael Howard passed away in the morning and died at the scene. According to the newspaper, an autopsy was performed yesterday. Results are pending. Howard had worked EMS for the county for the past 22 years. Funeral arrangements are not yet set.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** The Welsh Ambulance Service has egg on its face after an EMS response to a dying stroke patient this past May took 1 hour despite the fact the ambulance was virtually next door to the locale at the time. That is the word from The Mirror (Adam Aspinall/September 10) which said Trevor Bryer, 72, died some 500 yards from a hospital. According to the newspaper, the ambulance service compounded the shame by taking some 4 months to apologize to Bryer’s widow. Saying medics were very busy that day, a service spokesman told Karen Bryer that an investigation found the available ambulance had to come from 50 miles away. As for the length of time it took to respond to Karen Bryer, the ambulance service said it wanted to be thorough in its investigation.
