Doctor refers fireman whom ambulance medics kept alive for 19 minutes after heart attack to another hospital
A 54-year-old firefighter who was being rushed to hospital after a heart attack at his house in Runcorn, Cheshire, was referred to another hospital by a Warrington A&E doctor, something which he later admitted was a mistake.
Paul Smith was later declared dead soon after arriving at Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital (LHCH).
Reports state that Smith had a heart attack at his Runcorn home on August 18, 2018 and was being rushed to to the Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, Broadgreen. However, the firefighter went into a cardiac arrest on the ambulance, forcing the crew to divert the vehicle to the nearest A&E department at Warrington, as per North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) policy.
However, after an "exhausted" ambulance crew, who pumped Smith's chest for 19 minutes to keep him alive, reached the medical center, they were stunned after a consultant told them to take him to Liverpool, before he could be stabilized and properly assessed, according to the Daily Mail.