Patient dies after neighbour leaves angry note on ambulance
A critically-ill patient taken to hospital in an ambulance which had a curt note left on the windscreen while paramedics treated the man has died.
The male had been taken from an addiction rehabilitation centre to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham on Friday night, after going into cardiac arrest.
A spokesman for Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust said: "We can confirm that the patient in question sadly passed away."
Paramedics responding to the 999 call expressed disbelief when they discovered a note on the windscreen, apparently from a local resident, telling crews not to block a driveway.
Crew alerted an extremely poorly patient to hospital... minimal on scene time, arrived at hospital to find this note... this patient was TIME-CRITCAL. ???????????? @OFFICIALWMASpic.twitter.com/uGGAC2TUpI
-- Tasha Starkey (@WMASTStarkey) November 10, 2017
The hand-written note read: "You may be saving lives, but don't park your van in a stupid place and block my drive."
In a statement issued before the patient's death, West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Sometimes we just don't know what to say. This was the note left on an ambulance today.
"At the time, the crew were helping a man who was extremely unwell after vomiting blood. They took him on blue lights to hospital where he was in a critical condition."
Thanks for all the comments you've been sending through about this case. We still can't believe it, and it appears you can't either. Leaves us feeling really rather #sad - thanks again for all your support ???????????? pic.twitter.com/xSCzjaIZLz
-- WMAS (@OFFICIALWMAS) November 11, 2017
Following a wave of support from the public on social media, the ambulance service thanked people for their support.
In a statement, the paramedics added: "We still can't believe it, and it appears you can't either. Leaves us feeling really rather #sad - thanks again for all your support."