Illawarra paramedic Mark Harris has given up on his career after fighting off an alleged attack from a patient in the back of an ambulance last year.
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The 55-year-old told the Mercury that he still deals with anxiety after the incident on the afternoon of April 9, 2017, when the transfer of a patient to hospital after a car accident took a troubling turn.
“It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” Mr Harris said. “But I’m no longer prepared to place myself at risk – no job’s worth that.”
Illawarra man Shain Hill faced Wollongong court on Monday, charged with common assault over the incident in which he allegedly tried to bite Mr Harris.
He was thrashing out with his hands ... foaming at the mouth, continually swearing and spit was going all over me.
He also faces charges of negligent driving over the preceding car accident which necessitated the ambulance response.
In court Mr Harris told Magistrate Mark Douglass that he and his colleague arrived at the accident on Shellharbour Road, Primbee, to see Hill lying on the ground at the rear of the car, which had ploughed into a light pole.
Hill was initially compliant, accepting treatment from paramedics, and was placed on a stretcher and into the back of the ambulance, with Mr Harris remaining by his side.
However not long after setting off for Wollongong Hospital, Mr Harris said Hill suffered what appeared to be a seizure, which lasted for up to a minute.
The paramedic of 12 years told the court that while most patients were “quite groggy and lethargic” after a seizure, Hill immediately sprang up and began lashing out at him.
After unbuckling the seatbelt on his stretcher, Mr Harris said Hill then “lunged for the back door”, and he feared they would both fall out onto the road.
“I could see both of us going out the back door and under a car,” he said.
Mr Harris said he managed to pull him back onto the stretcher, and hold him down by the shoulders before reaching for the duress alarm in the ambulance.
“He was thrashing out with his hands, trying to get off the stretcher, foaming at the mouth, continually swearing and spit was going all over me,” he said.
Mr Harris said Hill also attempted to bite him on his wrists and arms.
Mr Harris’ colleague Mitchell Sparks – who was driving the ambulance – gave evidence that he witnessed the apparent seizure in the rear vision mirror.
He said he saw Hill lash out towards Mr Harris after the seizure, and initiated a distress call to the ambulance control centre. He then pulled the ambulance over to the side of the road, and assisted his colleague by holding down Hill’s legs.
Police and additional paramedics answered the calls for help, and Hill was eventually handcuffed and medicated and taken to Wollongong Hospital.
In his cross examination of the two paramedics, Hill’s lawyer Danny Lagopodis asked if it was possible that instead of being lethargic after a seizure, a patient could instead become agitated and aggressive.
“It’s atypical of what we see post seizure-like activity,” Mr Sparks said.
“What we typically see is patients being very drowsy, very tired from muscle movements and lack of oxygen, confused, disoriented and quite docile.”
Mr Harris told the Mercury more measures needed to be put into place to protect paramedics – and other emergency services workers – from assault.
The hearing will continue next year.
