A patient fell from a basic life support ambulance (SVB) belonging to the Department of Health recently as the vehicle was travelling around Ondara in the direction of Valencia. The woman fell onto the road and was severely injured.
The accident was witnessed by Michael Kaworsky, a German resident of Moraira, who was driving along behind the emergency vehicle at approximately 110 kph. He said that the ambulance was going at a similar speed.
The driver told the Spanish press that he stopped only three metres from the injured woman. He shielded her with his car, signalling approaching traffic to slow down as she lay motionless and covered in blood.
Mr Kaworsky said yesterday that he still has trouble sleeping. He said he is still “traumatized.” “I saw the back doors of the ambulance open. I was in my car about 500 metres behind when something fell out. I thought it was a blanket, but it was actually the woman, probably between 20 and 40 years of age. I managed to stop when I was almost on top of her”. “She was still alive, although she was breathing hard.”
This Moraira resident said that it was some time before the two paramedics realise what had happened at which point they turned around and came back in the opposite direction.
“When they arrived back at the scene, I told them that we had to call a doctor and the police. But they wouldn’t listen. They bundled the woman back on the stretcher, put her into the ambulance and drove off. I overtook them my car and waited at the Oliva toll, but they continued on towards Valencia.”
Kaworsky presented his complaint in the Denia court. He was able to take a photograph of the ambulance. He maintains that the driver and his companion told him that it was all the fault of the passenger because she was crazy.
The Ministry of Health confirmed that the accident had occurred and said that it has opened an investigation to clarify how the patient was able to open the back door of the ambulance. They said that that the woman suffers from a mental illness and that she was travelling in the back of the ambulance, was being monitored by a paramedic and was secured on the stretcher with a belt.
Michael Kaworsky said that the accident caused him a “great shock” and that he is very concerned about the fate of the woman. “I’m afraid that she might not have survived. Her injuries were very serious, “he added.
He originally went to the Civil Guard in Gandia to present his complaint, but it was closed, while the National Police and the Local told me that it was not their responsibility, but that of the Alicante Traffico department of the Civil Traffic Guard, because the accident had occurred in the Alicante province”.
Finally, he was able to file his complaint last Thursday in the court of instruction number 2 in Denia.
