Pregnant wife forced to direct ambulance to hospital as husband lay dying after driver 'didn't know directions'
15 November 2024, 14:29 | Updated: 15 November 2024, 14:31
The death of a motorcyclist could have been avoided after his pregnant wife was forced to direct the ambulance to hospital following an hour wait for the emergency services, an inquest has heard.
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Aaron Morris, a father-of-five, suffered a cardiac arrest in an ambulance which his wife Samantha was directing to hospital because the driver did not know the way.
The inquest, which took place in Crook, Co Durham, heard how Mr Morris was forced to wait almost an hour for paramedics to attend the scene of the crash, with the coroner ruling ambulance service neglect was a factor.
Mr Morris, 31, died at the University Hospital of North Durham on July 1 2022 at 6.40pm, after a crash which happened about six hours earlier in Esh Winning.
His wife, who was thirteen weeks pregnant with twins at the time, was also celebrating her birthday on the day of the crash.
She was returning from a hospital appointment when she came across the scene of the crash, in which her husband's Honda motorbike collided with a car at a junction.
During the inquest, coroner Crispin Oliver was told that it took 54 minutes for an ambulance to get to the scene because of high demand.
The North East Ambulance Service target for arrival at the scene was 18 minutes.
Mr Oliver heard during the inquest that one expert rated Mr Morris's chance of survival as high as 95%, had he been treated in a timely manner.
The coroner also heard that an air ambulance could have been sent to the scene earlier, but that did not happen.
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Mr Oliver was also told that a specialist paramedic known as a clinical team leader (CTL) should have gone to the scene, but she did not leave a meeting being held in Stanley.
The coroner said: "It is highly likely that Aaron Morris would have survived had available specialist medical treatment been applied in a timely manner.
"That it was not was due to a) delayed allocation of an ambulance deployed to the scene due to overstretched resources and b) failure of the ambulance service CTL to deploy to the scene at 12.52, when there was certainly enough information for her to do so."
Mr Oliver concluded: "Aaron Morris died from injuries sustained in a road traffic collision and failure of the response of the ambulance service, contributed to by neglect."
A private ambulance, run by the firm Ambulanz, was first to get to the scene of the crash, the inquest heard.
Mr Morris died from chest injuries he sustained in the crash, after which he was conscious and breathing but in serious pain.
Mr Oliver said two experts found there was a tipping point before Mr Morris's cardiac arrest in the ambulance, before which he would have probably survived had the correct medical intervention been available.
He had a cardiac arrest at 1.52pm, and one expert said the tipping point could have been as little as five to 10 minutes before it happened.
The coroner said witnesses from the institutions involved in the inquest had conducted themselves in a "humane" way at the hearings, and the organisations involved "showed themselves to be considerably chastened by their own review of the circumstances as to what happened".
Outside the hearing, Mrs Morris said she welcomed the improvements made by the North East Ambulance Service and the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).
She said: "The transparency and proactive approach of NEAS and GNAAS is appreciated and I am glad lessons have been learnt.
"Changes have already been implemented to prevent other families having to go through such a terrible experience.
"They have offered me support before, during and after the inquest and we have had open discussions about how the new trauma desk works and the organisation changes that have been made.
"After hearing the evidence from Dr Noble, medical director for NEAS, on preventing future deaths, I would now feel confident dialling 999 and requesting a North East Ambulance, which I never thought I would say.
"I do not doubt that, had GNAAS attended, the skills and expertise of their paramedics would have saved Aaron's life.
