“More could’ve been done”
"Ben was breathing, but was unconscious when I first got to him and the best I could do was comfort him and tell him emergency services were on their way. It was obvious that the emergency services got a few things seriously wrong.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response to a collision at the Allen Street and Drakensberg Drive intersection on Monday afternoon has sparked outrage among witnesses to the scene, who feel that more could have been done to save the life of Ben Marais, a training officer in the electrical and instrumentation field at the Majuba FET College Technology Centre.
Mr Marais, who was riding a scooter straight across the intersection, was apparently hit by a car that turned right into his lane.
It is believed that an ambulance van only arrived at the scene 25 minutes after the incident had been reported, and witnesses complained that the paramedics who responded, treated the situation with absolutely no sense of urgency.
Willie Potgieter, who was among the first on the scene said EMS had arrived just 10 seconds after Mr Marais had stopped breathing and strongly believes that more could have been done to save his life.
“Frustratingly, they proceeded with no urgency to attend to Ben. I found this shocking to believe that these men could have this little regard for human life or the urgency of the situation. Even when I pleaded with them to hurry up, it was met with emotionless faces and no urgency whatsoever,” said Mr Potgieter.
According to Mr Potgieter, the medics who tended to Mr Marais first had no scissors to cut away the helmet strap and had to return to the vehicle to find one. When they finally managed to get the helmet off, one of the medics took out a defibrillator but did not proceed to shock Mr Marais.
“At this point they did not even start with CPR. By now three or four minutes had passed. They eventually gave him CPR but nobody had yet given him oxygen and when they did, the mouthpiece was put on Ben upside down and I could see that the air was blowing past his mouth,” added Mr Potgieter.
“Ben was breathing, but was unconscious when I first got to him and the best I could do was comfort him and tell him emergency services were on their way. It was obvious that the emergency services got a few things seriously wrong.
They did not give him oxygen sooner, bearing in mind that he stopped breathing seconds before they came on scene, which I repeatedly told them.
Also, how can a professional medic not know which way round the mouthpiece of the breathing pump should fit onto someone’s mouth and not make any effort to move Ben’s tongue or to insert a pipe into his mouth to insure they were getting air through.
They only thought of doing this after a few minutes of CPR. They didn’t do anything to support his neck even though he looked like he has suffered a neck injury, as well.”
Mr Potgieter concluded, “There were lots of angry people at the scene yesterday, including Mr Marais’s work colleagues who felt that more could have been done. I honestly believe that the medics could have saved his life, and now it makes me angry that his family is in mourning when he might have been saved.”
Spokesperson for the District Department of Health, Nonhlanhla Khuzwayo, said the matter would have to be investigated before she could respond on behalf of EMS.
