‘Blatant neglect’: Family speaks out about mum who died waiting for ambulance

“For a young boy to have to see his mum like that, it just shouldn't happen,” says Cath’s sister, Bec. 

It was the morning of Cath Groom’s 52nd birthday when her teen son discovered his mum collapsed on the floor. 

The night before, the Queensland mum had been complaining of severe chest pain, vomiting and discomfort between her shoulder blades: the signs of a heart attack.

Her son, Nicholas, called triple zero several times as a precaution. 

The call was categorised as a code one emergency and an ambulance was expected to arrive in 15 minutes. 

However, due to an unexpected spike in emergency calls that night, her name was pushed down the list. After a 90-minute agonising wait, the ambulance never arrived. 

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RELATED: Preventable: Queensland Mum tragically dies after ambulance fails to show up

Cath was experiencing symptoms of a heart attack but an ambulance never arrived. Source: Facebook

“A young boy shouldn’t have to see his mum like that”

Frustrated and exhausted, her son called and cancelled the ambulance, with Cath hoping could sleep off her symptoms. 

In the middle of the night, she got up to use the bathroom but collapsed on the floor. Tragically, she never woke up. 

Speaking to A Current Affair, Cath’s sister Bec described how traumatic the entire ordeal has been on her family, especially Cath’s only son.

“For a young boy to have to see his mum like that, it just shouldn't happen,” she said. “He was petrified he didn't know what to do.” 

Nicholas had been “taught through all his life” to rely on emergency services when situations like this occur. “Them not [being] there for him when they should have been is just blatant neglect,” continued Bec. 

The day of his mum’s death, Nicholas had been celebrating his high school graduation, taking him from “the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the space of 24 hours.”

“To get to such an incredible point of his high school graduation and just to be so proud of him on that day,” Bec explained. 

“I could see it in her face that she was just, you know, so so proud. And literally 24 hours later, he's finding his mother deceased, unnecessarily.” 

Cath had raised Nicholas following the tragic death of her husband 18 years ago. While the teenager was only a month old when his father died, he now must live without parents. 

RELATED: Brisbane dad nearly dies after waiting over 20 minutes for ambulance to arrive

Cath had just celebrated her only son's graduation. Source: Facebook

“No excuses” for slow ambulance response time

Queensland Ambulance Services confirmed they would be conducting a review of the tragic incident. 

“We absolutely should have done better in this circumstance. We will do a review but there are no excuses,” said Queensland Ambulance Service Commissioner Craig Emery.

“What's happened here with Cath is absolutely devastating - I'm devastated personally for her family, particularly her son.

“We have one of the busiest ambulance services in the country ... we have some of the best response times, but unfortunately, we did not get there in a quick and timely way for Cath and for that, I am truly sorry.” 

QAS explained their response time is usually much faster, but they were “stretched” during the time of Cath’s urgent call. 

“It doesn't happen all day, every day ... we do actually have some of the best response times in the country,” Emery told ACA. “In fact, most people get their ambulance on average within eight and a half minutes, but that doesn't make any difference for the family in this circumstance.”

Originally published as ‘Blatant neglect’: Family speaks out about mum who died waiting for ambulance