Mother calls 999 to give seriously ill son painkillers due to ambulance delay

Brian Rooney, 35, suffered a heart attack outside the emergency department of the Royal Victoria Hospital after his bowel was punctured at home.

He is now in a coma after emergency surgery, which resulted in his intestine being removed.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) apologized to Mr Rooney and his family “for not meeting their expectations in terms of the care provided to them”.

It added that he is “unable to comment publicly on the details of individual matters” but “would welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues raised directly with the family”.

His mother Isobel Benson called 999 after her son felt an “explosion” in his chest and was “screaming in agony”.

A hospital consultant later told him that the perforated bowel meant the organ had “effectively burst and the entire contents of his bowel would have been evacuated throughout his body”.

Mr Rooney also has epilepsy, colitis and arthritis, and has recently been in and out of hospital.

On Sunday morning Ms Benson heard “a loud scream” coming from her son’s attic room.

After seeing the “panic look on his face”, she called for an ambulance.

Ms. Benson said she explained her son’s medical history and told the call handler that he was hyperventilating, in pain and unable to move.

When Ms. Benson responded that she needed an ambulance now, the call handler asked if she could take her son to the hospital herself.

She said she could not do this because she had a two-door car, which would have been extremely difficult for Mr Rooney to travel in given his level of pain, and her son’s father did not drive at night due to his health problems. Can.

“After that call I was really in shock. It was just a lack of trust.

“My understanding is what priority call is – if you have severe chest pain, you are given priority, it is an emergency.

“In this case, because they made it clear that it was not considered an emergency, and that was the end of it and it was not up for discussion,” he said.

“This, to me, is communicating that we do not consider you an emergency.”

Ms Benson said her son now faces an uncertain recovery.

Dr Andrew Dobbin, who is clinical director of emergency medicine at the South Eastern Trust, told Good Morning Ulster that there were 690 patients for the hospital’s 540 beds on Tuesday.

Of the 690, 80 were on beds in corridors and another 70 were waiting for beds in the emergency department, which has only 51 rooms.

on tuesday