Crystle Galloway's death from a stroke may have been prevented if the Florida paramedics who responded to her mother’s 911 call didn’t profile Galloway and ask if she could afford the ambulance ride, according to claims from her mother.
Nicole Black, Galloway’s mother, said she called 911 on the morning of July 4 after her 7-year-old granddaughter said her mother had fallen in the bathroom. Black found Galloway collapsed in the bathtub, according to WFLA.
Black says she told the 911 dispatcher that her daughter had had a C-section birth just three days earlier, and that the medics who came seemed more concerned about whether she could afford the ambulance ride than whether she needed to get to the hospital quickly, CBS News reported.
They asked whether she wanted to spend $600 to go three blocks to the hospital and whether Galloway had been drinking, then carried her down three flights of stairs to her car rather than to the ambulance, Black alleges.
Black then drove Galloway to the hospital, where she was diagnosed as having a stroke, fell into a coma, and died five days later, CBS News reported.
Hillsborough County said the responders did not follow protocols, including taking Galloway’s vitals at the scene and getting a signature to refuse ambulance service, CBS News reported. They also falsified the patient care report, the county said.
Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill said in a press conference that he is investigating whether there were other lapses or racial motivations.
“If it’s a culture of racism ... that’s something that needs to be fixed for the sake of good care for our community,” Merrill said, CBS News reported.
The medics claim Black left with Galloway before they could take her vitals, and the lieutenant said Black did not want an ambulance, CBS reported.
The medics are on paid leave during the investigation.
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