A paramedic refused to resuscitate a patient and then told a series of lies to cover his tracks, a court was told.
According to the BBC, Karl Harris told a colleague there was “no point” resuscitating Barry Baker after they were called to his home in Brighton, East Sussex, jurors heard.
Mr Baker dialled 999, and died after suffering a cardiac arrest in November 2008, Lewes Crown Court heard.
Mr Harris, 45, denies perverting the course of justice.
The court heard that Mr Baker dialled 999 after experiencing breathing difficulties in the early hours of 29th November 2008.
Within two minutes of Mr Harris and colleague Ben Stokes arriving at the scene Mr Baker collapsed.
Unknown to the paramedics, the phone operator stayed on the line and heard they did not make a resuscitation attempt.
Giving evidence Mr Stokes said that Mr Harris told him: “He’s dead. I’ve seen this before. Don’t bother (with resuscitation).”
He told jurors that Mr Harris gave him a number of justifications for not taking any further action, such as that he was too heavy for them to lift.
Mr Harris also insisted “more than once” it would be fine just to say the patient had already died, Mr Stokes said.
As the senior worker it was Mr Harris’ responsibility to make all the decisions.
Prosecutor Mr Barton said that Mr Harris “…told lies to the police officers, and repeated those lies to his bosses that night and went on to falsify paperwork in order to cover up what he had done.”
It was not alleged that Mr Harris’ failure to act caused Mr Baker’s death, as medical evidence suggested that he would not have survived.
This might be the case in these circumstances but there is no way that Mr Harris could have been sure of that at the time, particularly given the short time period between the collapse and when resuscitation could have been done. Mr Harris clearly failed to carry out the requirements of his job description and in another situation it might be that an attempt to resuscitate the patient may well have worked. While there is no possibility of a claim for medical negligence being brought, Mr Harris’ conduct is a cause for concern and understandably he has been suspended from his role pending the outcome of this hearing.
