Dying man left note for daughters while waiting for medics
A DYING pensioner wrote a note saying “I love you” to his daughters while he waited two hours for an ambulance to respond to his call for help following a heart attack.
Ronald Volante, 74, was found dead after suffering heart failure in his flat at a sheltered housing complex.
The retired mechanical fitter pulled a cord in his flat in Prenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, to sound an alarm and could be heard by the call handler shouting: “Help”.
A heartbreaking note was found in Mr Volante’s flat after his death, which read: “I love you Rita, I love you Deb, Dad.” It was a reference to his daughters, Debbie Moore and Rita Cuthell. His will was found next to the note.
The call handler dialled 999 but Mr Volante’s case was given a low priority by the ambulance service and paramedics took an hour and 40 minutes to arrive. They found him dead on his living room floor.
Andre Rebello, the coroner who investigated the grandfather’s death, criticised alarm company Magenta Living for not telling the ambulance service Mr Volante suffered from heart disease when the 999 call was made on Nov 5 last year.
Irene Weldon, head of the North West Ambulance Service’s emergency response centre in Liverpool, said it was likely Mr Volante would have been a top-priority patient if paramedics had known about his heart condition.
Mrs Cuthell told the Liverpool Echo: “I think he wrote that note while he was waiting for an ambulance. He left it with his will on the sideboard. Look at the way his handwriting scrawls at the end. Since he died, all I have done is eat, breathe and sleep. We can’t go forward.”
The coroner said it was not known when Mr Volante wrote the note and reached a conclusion of death by natural causes. He also said it was impossible to determine whether Mr Volante could have been saved.
But Mr Rebello urged Magenta to improve staff training so call handlers share relevant medical history with the ambulance service in future.
Magenta Living offered its condolences to Mr Volante’s family. A spokesman said: “We will implement the coroner’s recommendations and also advise the national body to consider the coroner’s recommendations in cases where ambulances have been called. We will submit our revised procedures to the court as requested by the coroner by 24 March.”