Woman dies in ambulance when oxygen runs out
RED WING, Minn. — The city of Red Wing is investigating after a 64-year-old woman died during an ambulance trip.
Janice Hall was being moved from a nursing home in Red Wing to one in Minneapolis on April 22. Hall was ventilator-dependent, according to the medical examiner, and the ambulance’s onboard oxygen system spontaneously shut down during the trip.
Red Wing Fire Chief Tom Schneider says a paramedic discovered the outage and restarted the system. But Hall had died.
The ambulance’s electronic components were replaced, but the same problem happened a month later. In that case the patient was not hurt.
Road Rescue of Marion, S.C., which built the ambulance, says it’s the only reported incident. The company says it’s testing a field remedy for all ambulances that use that system.
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How could this happen? How does an Oxygen system "spontaneously shut down"? Is this a case of attendant inattention? Negligence? Also "The ambulance’s electronic components were replaced, but the same problem happened a month later" what does the electrical system have to do with the oxygen system? Maybe the electrical system effected the ventilator, but again this should have been noticed by the medic attending the patient, in time to have prevented their death.
Just my 5 cents worth.