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Last Sunday I was on call. I treated a patient who was shot. He was unstable and we took him to theatre within 20 mins of his arrival at our hospital. We operated on him. But he had lost too much blood and he died despite everything we did
Yesterday we presented the case in our morbidity and mortality meeting and our clinical manager told us some extra details. He lost all that blood because his transfer to our facility was delayed
He was shot in a township feud and taken to a clinic. The people who shot him followed him to that clinic and threatened staff. The paramedics were afraid to transfer him without police escort, which took time to arrange.
The police and paramedics left him in our casualty and fled, fearing for their lives. I was on call with a team of ladies. We were left vulnerable with nobody explaining the situation until days after the event.
I heard afterward that the people who shot the patient came looking for him in casualty, threatening staff. If we hadn& #39;t taken him off to theatre we would have been there, treating him. I shudder to think what might have happened
