Elderly Brooklyn man dies at home after snow delays ambulance arrival

[cali]

BY Jonathan Lemire, Simone Weichselbaum and Joe Kemp
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

An elderly Brooklyn man died in his home Monday after snowy streets delayed an ambulance responding to repeated calls for help, sources said.

Joel Grossman, 73, first called 911 about noon Monday from his Kensington apartment to complain he felt ill, the sources said.

The situation was not deemed life-threatening, so under standard FDNY protocol emergency crews were not immediately dispatched to the Ocean Parkway apartment.

The man continued to stay in touch with the 911 dispatcher, each calling the other at least once. Because he was still "feeling sick," no units were sent, sources said.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/30/2010-12-30_elderly_brooklyn_man_dies_at_home_after_snow_delays_ambulance_arrival.html#ixzz19dmcschC

[slackmaster]

1. Do we really need another public employee union-bashing thread?

:sarcasm:

[cbdo2007]

2. Snow didn't delay ambulance arrival - he just said he was "feeling sick" so they

put it on the back burner.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. 73.

:shrug:

[MineralMan]

4. And, in other news, paramedics with a volunteer fire department

in my home town responded to a call similar to that on Christmas day, and found a man in cardiac arrest when they arrived. They used a defibrillator and revived him. He's going to be OK. What was your point?

On any given day, you can find a story like yours or one like mine. You must have a point for posting yours. What is it? People die. People are saved. It's all in a day's work for these emergency workers. Believe me: They regret the failures far more than you can possibly regret them.

I grew up in a family of firemen and paramedics. They lost their share, and saved their share.

What is your point in posting this story, I wonder?

[salin]

5. am guessing it has to do with the deterioration of services (defunding)

that leads to more hard choices being made as to whether or not to serve the call. My take it is less about the heroics of those providing the services, and more about how those services have to be carefully rationed in the course of years of budget cuts, combined with bad weather (and more lessened services.)

[PavePusher]

7. Sadly you can not miracle away 2 feet of snow.

It takes time, no matter how many people are on the public payroll.

Everyone physically able, on government support, should have been handed a shovel and told to get to work.

Everyone else should have pitched in until they could get to their jobs.

[Pancho Sanza]

6. Hopefully his heirs can find a really good lawyer to sue Jesus

for the snowstorm...