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Parked Ambulance
A 7 year-old girl who choked on a school lunch is declared brain-dead after having been on life support for a week. Noelia-Lisa Echavarria has been hospitalized and on life support since last week, when she choked on her lunch in a New York school.
The first-grader’s family claims that nobody offered the girl any medical aid until an EMT that was passing by at an intersection in the vicinity was asked to help. A teacher had seen the girl choking last week, on October 21st , and had then run out into the street to find assistance.
Ana Santiago, the girl’s mother, has stated that she wants answers from the school and the family’s attorney has raised questions about the extended amount of time that it took for 911 to be called in this particular case, as it appears that the EMT was the first to dial the emergency number. The family also suspects that the girl choked on the sandwich because she was rushing to finish, having been asked to hurry in previous occasions by teachers.
According to the EMT that tried to help the girl, the school staff had not intervened until he had gotten there and had not tried to give the girl assistance. It seemed to him that she had been choking for about five minutes at that point. The family was called about the incident and the girl’s uncle was the first family member to arrive at the school, notified by the girl’s mother.
The uncle claimed that upon arriving at the school he found his niece lying on the floor in a hallway, appearing to be lifeless and full of blood, and that the staff at the school refused to touch her. After finally being taken to the hospital the girl remained on life support and has been irresponsive ever since.
A surprising detail in this story is the consequence that the private EMT had to face after helping the girl. The paramedic was suspended indefinitely after the incident as it was against company policy to stop without being called and due to the fact that he left a patient in the ambulance, only under the care of his partner, after having been flagged down in the street by the staff member.
The EMT was helping transport a man from an eye clinic back to a nursing home when he stopped in the street to go help the 7 year-old girl, but the old man was stable at the time. She has now been declared brain-dead and the family is considering taking action against the school.
Image source: www.pixabay.com
