Medics ‘refused to transport dying dad’
Mugging victim dies after ambulance crew claims he was drunk – family
AWALMER man stabbed several times by a mugger at the weekend died hours after an ambulance crew allegedly refused to take him to hospital because he was drunk.
The government paramedics called out to the bloody scene on Friday night in Walmer township allegedly told Vuyani Moko’s family they would have to transport the 54-year-old to hospital themselves as he had been drinking.
However, the Eastern Cape Department of Health claims it was Moko who actually refused to go by ambulance.
Moko was bleeding profusely at the time from four wounds – to an arm and his legs.
He had been mugged minutes earlier, with his assailant making off with his wallet.
Moko’s son, Lukhanyo Dama, 23, found his bloodied father in the yard of their home.
“I saw the blood outside in the yard – a lot of blood,” Lukhanyo said.
“When I followed the trail, it led me to my father who, at first, did not want to tell me what had happened to him.
“I was panicking but did not want to wake my mother because I did not want her to see the blood.
“After a few minutes, my father told me he was robbed of his wallet and that the guys had stabbed him.
“I ran to the neighbours to ask for help because I didn’t know what to do.
“My father’s clothes were soaked in blood.”
Moko’s wife, Nonstizi Dama, 57, was awoken by the noise. “I was wondering ‘what is happening’?” she said. “I stepped out of the bedroom, then I also saw the blood.
“I frantically asked if they had called an ambulance and they said ‘yes’.”
According to the family, the ambulance arrived at about 10.30pm. They were, however, shocked by what allegedly happened next.
Lukhanyo said: “Two paramedics were in the ambulance [a man and a woman].
“The guy came into the house and just looked at my father but didn’t do anything, even though he could see my father was injured.
“Then he asked us if my father had been drinking and we said he had.”
Lukhanyo said Moko had been drinking in the house earlier that evening and had stepped outside.
He was robbed not far from the property in Sigcawu Street.
Lukhanyo alleged that his unemployed father was told by the paramedic that they would not be transporting him to hospital and the family would have to get private transport.
“When we told him [the paramedic] we do not have a car, he gave us bandages and a lot of plastic gloves and said we must treat my father’s wounds ourselves,” he said.
“He [allegedly] said he was not going to take a drunk person to hospital and that if we can’t find any transport, we must call for an ambulance in the morning.’’
Dama, cupping her face in trembling hands, said: “I begged him to help us [but] he said the bleeding would stop because the wounds looked small.”
The family, with the help of neighbours who had come to the house, said they had to cut Moko’s bloodied clothes from his body to treat the wounds, which were still bleeding.
When the ambulance crew drove off, the family called them again.
Dama said: “The operator told us an ambulance was on its way, but it never arrived and we eventually helped my husband to get in bed.”
She checked on her husband
just after 3am. “He did not respond when I gently tried to wake him up.
“I started screaming. He was dead,” she said, fighting to hold back the tears.
Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said police were investigating a case of murder.
Eastern Cape health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said yesterday that it was in fact Moko who had not wanted to be taken to hospital.
“On arrival [of the ambulance], the patient refused conveyance after the wounds were dressed,” Kupelo said, quoting from the ambulance crew’s report on Moko.
However, Dama said: “That is not true. There were a lot of community members in the house who heard that man [a paramedic] refusing to transport my husband.
“It’s not true that he did not want to go to hospital.”
Neighbour Mavis Joni, 59, said: “He [Moko] just looked at me when I entered. He was bleeding.
“I asked him: ‘Who stabbed you? Who stabbed you?’ But he could not respond.”
Joni said when the paramedics arrived, they did not want to enter the house at first.
“The [paramedic] said [Moko] must walk out or we must bring him. We told him he can’t walk and that he’s bleeding.
“Upon seeing Moko, the paramedic said the patient had to be taken to hospital the next morning ‘because he’s drunk’,” Joni said.
Another neighbour, Welcome Mavikela, 60, said: “The paramedic told us to bandage him [Moko].
“He said he was not going to do it because Moko had been drinking.”
According to the Health Professions Council of SA, although there was no clear definition of what constituted a medical emergency, “no one may be refused emergency medical treatment”.
It says: “In an acute life-threatening emergency where any delay might prejudice the outcome and where it is impossible to obtain all relevant information or hold any consultations required – or where there is uncertainty about the diagnosis or the likelihood of recovery – healthcare practitioners should start treatment which may be of some benefit to the patient until a clearer assessment can be made.”