Mum told by 999 to give seriously ill son painkillers over ambulance delay | Global News Avenue

The mother of a Belfast man who collapsed outside hospital after being taken to hospital by his parents says she felt distressed when the 999 operator told her he should take painkillers as they would have to wait hours before an ambulance could be called Very shocked.

Brian Rooney, 35, suffered a heart attack outside the Royal Victoria Hospital emergency room after suffering a perforated bowel at home.

He is now in a coma after emergency surgery resulted in his intestines being removed.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) apologized to Mr Rooney and his family for “failing to meet their expectations of the care provided to him”.

It said it was “unable to comment publicly on the details of individual cases” but “welcomes the opportunity to discuss the issues raised directly with the family”.

Mr Rooney is in critical but stable condition.

His mother Isobel Benson called 999 after her son felt his chest “explode” and “screamed in pain”.

A hospital consultant later told her that the perforated bowel meant the organ had “effectively exploded and the entire contents of his bowel would be emptied throughout his body”.

Rooney also suffers from epilepsy, colitis and gout and has been in and out of hospital several times recently.

Ms Benson said she heard “a loud scream” coming from her son’s attic room in the early hours of Sunday morning.

She called an ambulance after seeing “the panic on his face”.

Ms Benson said she explained her son’s medical history and told the operator he was hyperventilating, in pain and unable to move.

After confirming he was breathing, conscious and talking, she was told it would take hours for an ambulance to reach him due to ongoing pressure on health services.

When Ms Benson responded that she needed an ambulance now, the operator asked if she could take her son to the hospital herself.

She said she could not because she had a two-door car which would be extremely difficult to get into given Mr Rooney’s level of pain, and because her son’s father was unable to drive at night due to his own health problems.

Ms Benson was told she had to wait and he was given painkillers.

“I was really traumatized after that phone call. It was unbelievable.

“My understanding of priority calling is – if you have severe chest pain, you’re going to be prioritized, it’s an emergency.

“But in this case, because he appeared sober, it wasn’t considered an emergency and that was the end of it and there was no room for discussion,” she said.

Ms Benson said her son started foaming at the mouth and coughing up blood, so she decided to try and take him to hospital herself.

“I had to manhandle Brian downstairs. I felt terrible.

“He was in pain and screaming with every movement and turn on the stairs,” she said.

She led him down two flights of stairs and into her car.

At the door of the emergency room, her son collapsed.

She said security and medical staff came out and “cut his shirt open and started giving him CPR because his heart had stopped beating.”

Ms Benson said consultants at the emergency department told her if they had not arrived at the hospital in time “we would be dealing with a body by now”.

She said she understood the pressures on the health service but had not expected her son to have to wait so long for an ambulance given his medical history.

Ms Benson added: “They did say that the ambulance they had could not leave the people they were with and that the ambulance was unavailable for several hours.”

“What that means to me is that we don’t consider you an emergency.”

One of Mr Rooney’s sisters, Roisin Wilshaw, who lives in England, faced a difficult journey back to Northern Ireland after receiving a call from her mother in the middle of the night.

She booked a flight but it was canceled due to bad weather, causing stress as she worried about whether she would make it home in time to see her brother if the worst happened.

“When I first realized my flight was cancelled, I was just numb and my heart was broken.”

She returned home 12 hours later.

Ms Benson said her son now faced an uncertain recovery.

Since his intestines were removed during surgery, he will now have an ostomy to collect waste.

“We were told that even if Brian got through this phase, the road ahead would not be easy – his life had changed.

“There are still complications such as infection that need to be considered. So, he needs all the rehabilitation.

“We don’t know, if the ambulance had shown up in time when I rang the bell, all of this might have been avoided.”