London paramedic throttled by passer-by as he answered emergency call

London Ambulance Service has condemned the latest in a series of attacks on emergency medical personnel

Zachary Davies Boren

Monday 17 November 2014 14:49

Paramedics attend to an injured person at the scene

An on-duty London paramedic was attacked by a pedestrian in the latest in a spate of attacks on emergency response medics.

On November 16, a 'single responder' paramedic, sent ahead of an ambulance for a potentially serious call in north-west London, was grabbed by the throat by a passer-by, according to the Evening Standard.

The attacker was enraged about how the paramedic had parked his first-response car, and tried pushing him towards the A406 carriageway.

Upon the arrival of the second medical team, the attacker was arrested and the paramedic sent to hospital - he was back on duty the next day.

London Ambulance Service slammed the attack - one of five on paramedics in recent days - as "completely unacceptable" and said it will take legal action against all who harm its staff.

The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards

Show all 6

1/6The men and women on the frontline against Ebola and other hazards

"For more than 25 years I've been trying to develop a vaccine for the African swine fever virus, which causes death in domestic pigs, and has symptoms quite like Ebola. It came from East Africa in the 1920s and was transmitted to Georgia in 2007 via food from shipping that was fed to pigs. It has now spread to neighbouring countries and this year entered the EU via Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It's difficult to eliminate because it also infects wild boar, which populate large parts of Europe."

David Vintiner

"I have a helmet for all occasions – five in all – as well as an array of outfits, including breathing apparatus and gas-tight suits, respirators and chemical protective suits. My job is to put paramedics where historically they could not have worked. We were born out of the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995, and have been running as Hart since 2006. There are 94 of us in London dealing with chemical, biological and radiological incidents, as well as building collapses and floods."

David Vintiner

"We've always dealt with contagious diseases and work with the Royal Free Hospital London high-level isolation unit to transfer confirmed cases, which fortunately is rare. A lot of it is communicating with the patient in a caring and compassionate way, which can be difficult when you're in full gear. There is an increased awareness of Ebola, but it's about reinforcing the processes we already have in place. Any personal risk is mitigated by our training and equipment."

David Vintiner

"In June I travelled to Sierra Leone, where one in 21 women of reproductive age dies in childbirth. This was my first mission, and the reason I got into medicine. I had my eyes wide open to Ebola; though it was still in its early days and concentrated across the border in Guinea, within days I had my first suspected Ebola cases in maternity. It was happening."

David Vintiner

"You need a healthy amount of fear to be safe, as well as protocol and organisational back-up. The greatest fear then is how long you can keep getting it right. There is also a huge psychological element. I checked my temperature daily, but in a hot, humid country there's a constant feverish feeling anyway. We had scares and one of our national nurses was infected, probably in the community. He sadly died and it had a huge impact on the team."

David Vintiner

"I was in the field watching patients come into the isolation centre next to us, often with their families. Sometimes they'd be walking and talkative, then die that night. It was tough but we were so busy, and being there made it feel like we were making a difference. When I got home after a month, I felt a sense of guilt that I was able to walk away. I'll almost certainly be going back."

David Vintiner

Further violent acts against emergency medics in the capital have been reported in the last week, including one that same night in which a medic was kicked, bitten and scratched by a patient in Battersea who was later sectioned.

On November 13, a patient in West Wickham scalded a medic by throwing hot tea, and the next day another EMT was punched in the stomach by a patient in Lewisham.

Jason Killens, director of operations at LAS, told the Evening Standard: "Attacking my ambulance crews as they go about saving lives in the capital will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

"Medics are already under a great deal of pressure. It is completely unacceptable that they should also face the risk of assault when they go to assist members of the public."

These incidents are part of a growing trend in London, with around a five per cent annual increase in attacks on ambulance crews - 414 in the year ending in March 2014.