At issue is a young woman who was in cardiorespiratory arrest, which led INEM to activate the VMER at Vila Real Hospital. However, due to the inoperability of the medical vehicle, the young woman was transported by the Santa Marta de Penaguião firefighters, ending up not resisting.
INEM is investigating the circumstances under which the young woman’s death occurred, after the inoperability of the Emergency and Resuscitation Medical Vehicle (VMER).
The alert received by Urgent Patient Guidance Center (CODU) reported a 20-year-old woman complaining of dyspnea, who subsequently went into cardiorespiratory arrest, in Vila Real.
Due to the failure of the VMER, it became necessary to use one of the four ambulances from registered fire departments at the city’s two fire stations. However, they were all occupied, and an ambulance from the Santa Marta de Penaguião volunteer fire department was mobilized, as it was the closest available means.
Second Rui Cruzfrom the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians, the failure consisted of a electrical failure which prevented the vehicle’s system from recognizing the key, leaving the VMER unavailable for some time.
The union also criticized the existence of only one VMER in Vila Real and the insufficient human resources.
“There is only one medical vehicle in Vila Real. In this case, in fact, the response means that were activated for this occurrence were not within the time limit that was determined, which is eight minutes for the most serious cases. Unfortunately, in some regions of the country, being helped ends up being a lottery”, said Rui Cruz.
According to , Samu reported that, when starting the journey, “the team communicated the inoperability of the vehicle and passed the information on to the team that was on site, who carried out Basic Life Support maneuvers using Automatic External Defibrillator”.
In October last year, the delegation from Order of Doctors of Vila Real had already warned about the state of wear and tear of emergency medical vehicles in the region, warning of the eventual risk of compromising the response in emergency situations.
