Caught on video: Someone was sleeping in the back of a DC ambulance & it wasn’t the patient
A few days ago we shared the story the mother of an injured child shooting video of the driver of a Philadelphia Fire Department ambulance as the driver texted or surfed the web while heading to a hospital. Now, the friend of a homeless man being taken to a hospital in an ambulance takes video of what appears to be a member of the DC Fire & EMS Department sleeping in the back of the ambulance. The news story describes the dozing man as a paramedic, but there is no confirmation that is the case.
There are a lot of fire and EMS folks already saying this isn’t news. They’re blaming the reporter and the man who took the video (and I am sure some will blame me for sharing the story). They’re also making many excuses for falling asleep, including the non-stop responses for many ambulance crews in DC. Some also mention the possibility that this is someone working a second shift on overtime.
Whatever your rationale and whoever you want to blame, it’s hard to escape this fact — the image is likely to leave a big impression on the public that will be hard to erase.
You need to get used to the fact that citizens are now taking video of you doing your job, even in the back of an ambulance.
A D.C. paramedic is accused of sleeping while a patient tossed and turned on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance, and it was all caught on camera.
The ambulance was called to a D.C. homeless shelter around 4 a.m. Thursday for a man complaining of abdominal pain. He was loaded into the back of the ambulance with the help of a friend. That friend spoke exclusively with FOX 5, but did not want to be identified.
Click here if the video above fails to play
“He couldn’t get out of the bed. I asked them if they could put him on a stretcher. They told me that he was going to have to walk downstairs on his own,” the friend said. “They wouldn’t assist me, so me and a friend of mine helped him, take him down the steps to the ambulance.”
But it’s what happened on the ambulance ride that really shocked him. He recorded cell phone video on the drive to the hospital. The man claims the paramedic sitting behind his sick friend was asleep for the whole ride.
“As the driver was driving, the EMT slept all the way through the trip without any assistance whatsoever,” the friend said. “I mean this guy was suffering with pain, he was hollering, and she didn’t even bother to look at him, ask his name, or anything whatsoever.”
To be fair, the man said he didn’t even try to awaken the sleeping medic.
“I didn’t say anything to her at all. I figure that’s her job to do what she got to do, and she failed to do her job,” he said.
The incident follows a string of problems with D.C. ambulance service. Two children have died when units failed to respond appropriately, and FOX 5 has reported on an ambulance shortage in the District.
According to the man we interviewed, the patient is still in the hospital for surgery to have his appendix removed.
