Coroner attacks ambulance delay

The Age
Julia Medew

A CORONER has criticised the Metropolitan Ambulance Service for not investigating the death of a boy after it took an ambulance more than 24 minutes to reach him last year.

Jane Hendtlass said she was "very concerned" that the service had not formally investigated Jake Hindhaugh's death after paramedics took nearly double the Government's then benchmark response time of 13 minutes to reach him during an asthma attack.

"Any asthmatic child should trigger a review, given how long the ambulance took to respond … I think it would have been better to do that at the beginning rather than go through this now," she said on the final day of an inquest on Jake yesterday.

Jake, 11, died at the Royal Children's Hospital four days after suffering an asthma attack at his Yarra Glen home on April 15. The year 6 student had just returned from his 50th game with the Yarra Glen Football Club under-12s when the attack began, the Coroners Court heard this week.

His parents called an ambulance immediately, but because the closest vehicles in Healesville and Lilydale were busy, one from Diamond Creek, 25 kilometres away, was sent.

By the time it arrived, Jake had suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest. He fell into a coma and died when his life support was later switched off.

An expert told the court this week that if an ambulance had reached Jake within 13 minutes, he probably would have survived.

Paramedics have been calling for more resources in the area for the past five years.

Kevin Masci, executive manager of operations, quality and improvement for Ambulance Victoria (formerly the Metropolitan Ambulance Service), said they were trying to increase services around Yarra Glen, but this was not in response to Jake's death.

"Jake's case is very special, but it's one of a number we would have liked to have done better," he said.

In response to Dr Hendtlass's criticism of the service for failing to review Jake's death, Mr Masci said it was difficult for paramedics to follow up on the outcomes for patients, and would not have known he had died.

Dr Hendtlass said she would hand down her finding this year.

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