Anger over stray dog in ambulance

[Tobi]

This isn't an easy one....
In November 2016, an ambulance was called to 86 year old Mrs Wilding in Cambridgeshire UK. She was suffering abdominal pain (later found to be gall bladder trouble)

On their way with her to hospital, paramedics stopped along the road to pick up a stray dog who was wet, cold and apparently abandoned on a main road.
They asked the lady first, if she minded, and she smiled and didn't mind, as she liked dogs. But she was vomiting along the way, and the wet dog kept jumping up. The paramedics had to restrain it.

Her daughter is furious, and the NHS have been forced to write an apology. Goodness knows what has happened to the paramedics since....

Here is the full story:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/loc...6-12428253

I wouldn't have minded one bit. If I was sick, a happy-to-be-rescued-dog would be all I needed to cheer me up and bring me some humour and the knowledge that I was in the kindest hands. I have been in the situation when I was taken to hospital in severe pain, and know a dog beside me would have been a lot of extra activity....but would have made me feel happier somehow.

But not everyone thinks that way....

A tricky situation! What was the right thing to do?

[LPC]

Well, I agree that it is a fine balance. They could have reported the stray dog's location to the RSPCA or local dog warden and moved on. Or - in my view a more humane reaction - they could have taken the dog in the ambulance but kept him suitably restrained (so he couldn't get near the patient). However, it is easy to be wise after the event and I think the ambulance staff were compassionate in the circumstances.

[Tobi]

I probably would have picked up the dog, quickly. But I would have put him on the passenger seat. Then scrubbed my hands or put on surgical gloves before tending to the lady. Usually there are two paramedics, so surely a seat up front would have been empty, if one was in the back with her.

[Catherine]

There are a number of issues here. I would have taken the dog into the ambulance whether I was the driver, attendant or patient. The dog was in distress.

I think the dog was in danger and he could have caused a car accident if he had been left on the road. Reporting his location might not have helped. The dog would have kept moving.

The patient was asked and said yes.

She was ill and in pain, but it was not a life threatening condition. Her situation was not made worse by a short delay.

The patient was vomiting therefore it was not a sterile situation.

The patient did not have any open wounds that could infect. Her problem was her gall bladder.

It was a highly irregular situation, but I think it has happened before or things similar to it. So they had a dog in the ambulance. Ambulances have a lot of strange things in them. You don't want to know who rode in the ambulance before you. There is more danger in that.

I am glad the dog is okay and I am glad the old lady is okay.  I think her family needs to calm down and put things in perspective. Everything worked out so there really wasn't a problem.

They might have been frightened when she talked about he dog because they thought she was going senile. She was right there is a dog.

[Tobi]

(01-20-2017, 03:57 PM)Catherine Wrote: You don't want to know who rode in the ambulance before you. There is more danger in that.

Quite right. Any infections I have ever had came from a rose thorn, or people, not dogs -even the dirtiest dog you have ever seen!

Also that's right about it not basically being a sterile situation anyway.

I was thinking about the 'report the dog' situation and realised that by the time animal control people had got there -anything might have happened, or the dog could have been a mile away.

[Catherine]

There was a very real danger that the dog would cause an accident on the road and lives could be lost. Removing the dog was a safety issue. The ambulance could have stayed with the dog until the RSPCA showed up, but they wanted to get the woman to the hospital. I think they came up with the safest solution for everyone.

The woman was having a gall bladder attack. It wasn't going to be a pleasant trip anyhow.

No one was hurt or in any way endangered. I think the family is over reacting.

If the woman had said no dog or I am allergic to dogs that would be a different situation.

[Tobi]

I think it is a case of the old lady not really minding...but her daughter has a different mind-set. People think in so many varied ways.

Yes you are right. It was also a general safety issue.

The dog, at least appeared to be pleased by the arrangement, and relieved to be rescued!   I hope he is okay now, and safe.

[Catherine]

I  understand that the dog is already back with his family. He wasn't a stray.  He had gotten out and they wanted him back. He must have had tags and a collar or a microchip or something that made it possible to identify the dog and connect him with his people.

The family of the old lady are really more upset that their mother/grandmother is ill. They are focusing their fear as anger at the ambulance drivers. They didn't make the old lady sick, they are the ones who were helping her. People do not always act reasonably.