Northern Ireland

Female paramedic 'feared for life' in patient attack

Paramedic 'Heather' speaking to the Ambulance Service about an attack in 2012
Paramedic 'Heather' speaking to the Ambulance Service about an attack in 2012 Paramedic 'Heather' speaking to the Ambulance Service about an attack in 2012

A FEMALE paramedic has spoken about a terrifying assault by a male patient that left her fearing for her life.

Identified only as Heather, the woman agreed to be videoed by the Ambulance Service as part of a public appeal against attacks on ambulance workers.

She said she was responding to an emergency call at a house in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim on a Sunday afternoon in 2012 when the semi-clothed man attacked her in a bedroom, kicked a defibrillator against a wall, grabbed her radio and ripped off her shirt.

"I feared for my life," she said.

The Ambulance Service said its paramedics are physically or verbally attacked more than 250 times a year, mostly by patients.

Heather said the man "got me by the scruff of my shirt and tried to throw me down the stairs".

She managed to free herself but went back into the house because she feared the man's wife was in danger.

"My conscience wouldn't have let me leave that woman in the house with the gentleman the way he was behaving," she said.

She said when a male colleague went to her aid, the man changed his attitude.

"I'm a long time in the Ambulance Service and I have never felt vulnerable as a female ever before," she said.

The visibly emotional paramedic said: "It left me very shaken and frightened to go into people's houses".

She said she had to take time off work following the attack and experienced sleepless nights and nightmares.

The man who attacked her was never charged.

"That disgusts me," she said.

She added: "I feel that anyone who assaults any paramedic in the line of their duty should be dealt with very severely by the courts. I think it needs to be a custodial sentence."