Appendix 7Case descriptions for cases awarded ≥ £100,000 in damages from 1995/96 to 2010 (n = 15)
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| Award | Outcome | Description of incident |
|---|
| £100,000 | Fatality | Called to a 35-year-old male with pain in his arm and chest. The patient suffered cardiac arrest and died |
| £100,000 | Fatality | Called to a patient who subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest; the patient was not transferred to further care |
| £100,000 | Fatality (child)/psychiatric/psychological damage (parents) | Called to a patient (child) with breathing difficulties. Parents attempted to clear airway. A paramedic and technician transferred patient to hospital but did not initiate resuscitation; resuscitative efforts at hospital were unsuccessful |
| £120,000 | Brain damage | Called to a patient (child) not breathing; CPR undertaken. The patient sustained brain damage |
| £120,000 | Fatality | Called to a patient but not transferred to further care; a second call 23 days later found the patient dead |
| £142,408 | Brain damage | Delay in transferring the patient to further care |
| £150,000 | Fatality | Called to a patient (adult) with a muscular injury. The patient was advised to consult their GP the next day; the patient consulted after 4 days and radiographs demonstrated a fractured hip. Failure to transfer the patient to further care was cited as negligence |
| £150,000 | Fatality | Called to a patient (adult) who was a known asthmatic. The patient inhaled furniture polish and was suffering increased breathlessness. The ambulance crew administered steroids and the patient was requested to walk to the ambulance. While being transferred to further care, the patient suffered a convulsion that led to respiratory and then cardiac arrest; advanced life support was undertaken en route |
| £115,000 | Unnecessary pain | Called to a patient; the crew did not transfer the patient to further care or complete the paperwork. The patient died the same day with an overdose of prescription medicine and alcohol abuse |
| £174,574 | Fatality | Called to a patient (child) suffering an asthmatic attack. Delayed response was cited as the cause of death |
| £190,000 | Fatality | Failure to transfer the patient to further care |
| £300,000 | Brain damage | Called to a patient (adult) in cardiac arrest. A delay in attending resulted in the patient, who is now in a permanent vegetative state, suffering brain damage. No details of the cause of the delay |
| £300,000 | Unnecessary pain | Patient suffered cardiac arrest while being transferred to further care |
| £500,000 | Brain damage | Called to an intoxicated patient with a head injury. The patient was transferred to further care without ‘back boarding’. The patient was found to have a fracture of the cervical spine and is now tetraplegic/quadriplegic |
| £2.8M | Brain damage | Called to a patient with an overdose. An airway adjunct was incorrectly inserted and the patient sustained irreversible brain damage |
