Most expect when they call 911 that help is on the way. But a toddler ended up dying after ambulance staff told a mom that they were too busy to help them.
The two-year-old girl went into cardiac arrest. The mother called for help, but a dispatcher sent firefighters instead of paramedics to her location. The toddler Yuna Feeley went into a respiratory illness and stopped breathing back in January.
Her mother, Andrea Feeley, called 911, but they sent firefighters instead of an ambulance. The firefighters realized that the toddler needed more help than they could provide. They radioed for an ambulance, but the Action Ambulance Service did not have any staff that could respond.
After more than 15 minutes, a firefighter loaded the toddler into his car and drove her to Massachusetts General Hospital. Two other firefighters administered CPR on the drive. But she was dead upon arrival. The young child’s death drew backlash and criticism. But ambulance services say they’re overworked and that there’s a shortage of workers.
Toddler Dies
A spokesperson for Action Ambulance told Daily Mail, “Our hearts go out to Yuna Feeley’s family. This was a devastating incident for everyone involved, and our crews did everything possible to help that day. The EMS system in Massachusetts and across the country is stressed due to an increase in calls, staffing challenges and backlogs in our hospital emergency rooms.”
It continued, “These are challenges we are working to overcome every day, and we look forward to working with our partners and local and state governments on meaningful solutions.”
The toddler died from a rare lung infection. Her mother blasted emergency services for not providing life saving care.
Boston Globe launched an investigation into the matter. It explained, “There is no central or regionalized system to track the location of ambulances in real time, and no one evaluating whether the number of ambulances on the road is sufficient. For ambulances that are in operation, chronic staffing shortages mean sometimes badly needed ambulances that are supposed to be in the field stay parked in garages, unused.”
It continued, “And when the ambulances are staffed, in some cases the same overworked EMTs and paramedics are sent out over and over again during long shifts that can result in serious mistakes.”
However, experts believe that paramedics could have made the deciding difference in saving the toddler’s life. They said, “They might have applied drugs such as epinephrine or used more advanced defibrillators with a better chance to shock her heart back into action.”
