A 66-year-old English woman is believed to have died after her wheelchair tipped over and she fell from an ambulance on her way to a doctor’s appointment in Norfolk, England.
“I went down the ramp and, I don’t know what happened, but when I got to the end, the wheelchair tipped backwards. […] I couldn’t hold her back. I’ve done this job hundreds of times and nothing like this has ever happened,” paramedic Tracey Leigh said, visibly upset, according to The Independent on Wednesday.
His testimony was heard this week as part of an inquiry by the Norfolk Coroner’s Court in Norwich, England, to shed light on the tragedy that unfolded outside a hospital in November 2021.
60-year-old Anita Woodford was driving in an ambulance to the hospital center for a non-urgent dialysis appointment.
But when she got out of the ambulance, her wheelchair tilted backwards and the 66-year-old hit her head hard on the ground.
She reportedly suffered head and neck injuries before dying of her injuries two weeks later.
According to the investigation, the wrong wheelchair was used to get the woman out of the ambulance.
However, according to ERS Medical, the company responsible for transporting patients, staff would have been made aware of the risks of using wheelchairs provided by the hospital rather than ambulances, The Independent continued.
“I never thought this would happen in a million years. All hospital wheelchairs were used to transport patients. I didn’t do anything different that day than the days before,” the ex-paramedic continued via video conference.
Initially suspended, she was eventually fired.