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

“Not everyone lives next door to paramedics. My husband was dying, and our neighbour saved him. Not the people we rely on,” says mum-of-two, Sarah. Warning: Graphic content

Alexandra Feiam

4 min read

October 26, 2023 - 1:41PM

Family Life

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A father who was seriously injured after crashing through a window may not be here today if it wasn’t for a quick-thinking neighbour.

Dad-of-two Elliott Shaw was walking through the living room in his Brisbane home when he tripped over a baby bouncer and fell through a glass window, crashing to the ground.

His left arm was seriously injured, severing two arteries, 11 tendons and two nerves.

His wife, Sarah, called triple-0 at 7:23 PM and requested an ambulance, watching as her husband began to bleed out.

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Elliott tripped on his daughter's toy and severed two arteries, 11 tendons and two nerves. Source: Courier Mail

Triple-0 dispatcher “hung up” on mum after frantic call

Despite an ambulance station located only four minutes away, no emergency vehicle arrived, so Sarah gave them another call.

With no luck and her time running out, she ran next door to her neighbour for help.

“We had waited and waited after I first called triple-0, and then I called back 10 minutes later,” she said per Courier Mail. “My neighbour explained he was a retired paramedic of 35 years and told the operator it was a ‘code one’ and my husband was in danger of bleeding out.”

However, the dispatcher “took that as abuse” and hung up the phone. “This operator proceeded to say, ‘You cannot speak to me like that. If there is anything else, call back,’” Sarah said in a Facebook post.

She added there were no offers of help for her bleeding husband and was only told to “apply pressure.”

Even after three frantic calls to emergency services, Sarah and her neighbour were forced to use a phone charging cable and two belts as a tourniquet to prevent Elliott from bleeding out.

At this point, he was “lying in a puddle and getting paler and dizzy,” she said.

Elliott was given two bags of emergency blood before undergoing life-saving surgery. Source: Courier Mail

Dad’s severed hand will “never be the same”

Three calls and more than 20 minutes elapsed, yet no ambulance was in sight.

Panicked, the neighbour pulled Elliott into his ute and drove to Redland Hospital, which was only a few minutes away.

Sarah and Elliott’s two children, 5mo Laura and 3yo Hannah, were looked after by the neighbours as Sarah and the retired paramedic rushed to the hospital.

“It is a five-minute drive, but seemed like it took hours as I was holding Elliott’s arm to stop the blood,” Sarah said. “I was sitting in the back squeezing the tourniquets as tight as possible while my husband’s blood was streaming down my arms.”

“When we got to the hospital, we had the entire Emergency Department rallying around us to help,” she added.

When Sarah overheard a doctor requesting an artery clamp, she “knew it was not good.”

Elliott was given two bags of emergency blood at the local hospital before being transferred to Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Thankfully, Elliott survived the ordeal and is recovering at home.

“However, he will never use his hand to the same capacity ever again,” Sarah said. “My five-month-old and three-year-old almost grew up not knowing their dad. He is alive, but our lives will never be the same.”

Elliott is recovering at home. Source: 9News

“Not everyone lives next door to paramedics”

Queensland Ambulance Services has investigated the incident and offered an apology for how it was handled.

“Upon arrival, the crew were informed the patient had been transported to hospital by private means,” said a spokesperson. “The QAS apologises to the patient and his family for the delay they experienced.

“In this case, the patient chose to privately transport to hospital prior to QAS arrival. The QAS uses well-established systems to support its planning, management and deployment of resources to ensure our most critical patients are seen first.

“The QAS was experiencing pressure across southeast Queensland [that evening],” they added.

According to the QAS, no ambulances were available until 25 minutes after the first call to emergency services.

Neighbours informed Sarah an ambulance arrived on the scene shortly after she and the paramedic rushed to the hospital.

“Not everyone lives next door to paramedics,” Sarah said. “My husband was dying, and our neighbour saved him. Not the people we rely on.”

"An apology holds little meaning without corresponding action," mum Sarah says. Source: NCA Newswire

Queensland Health Minister says ambulance response was “not good enough”

Sarah acknowledged the apology from QAS but argued it wasn’t enough if nothing was done to prevent it from happening again.

“An apology holds little meaning without corresponding action,” she said in a social media post.

Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman agreed the ambulance’s response was “not good enough.”

“I offer my sincere apology to the family, I cannot begin to imagine the distress this incident would have caused,” she said. “I also want to thank the hardworking healthcare workers at the local hospitals for tending to this patient and providing him with the exceptional care to ensure he would make a full recovery.

“Our paramedics do a great job every day caring for Queenslanders, but in this case, it was absolutely not good enough.

“I am advised an investigation is underway, and I will ensure that all recommendations are implemented.”