Dead Man Removed From Ambulance, Put Back In Home

[Navy6064]

Dead Man Removed From Ambulance, Put Back In Home
Ambulance Needed For Another Emergency

POSTED: 9:28 am PDT October 12, 2004
UPDATED: 10:12 am PDT October 12, 2004

SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- As Natalie Collet watched her father dying in the doorway of her San Marcos home last Wednesday, she could never have predicted the events that would follow.

Paramedics arrived and worked on Ken Collet (pictured, left) for about half an hour, then put him in the ambulance and told Natalie to meet them at Tri-City Medical Center.

"They had the door shut on the ambulance," she said.

Collet's roommate, Denise Dougherty, drove her to the hospital, where a nurse told her that her father was alive. Then, 15 minutes later, a doctor said otherwise.

"He said, 'He didn't make it. He died,'" Collet said.

Do you agree with the fire department's policy?
Yes, if the person is already dead, there's nothing to do -- might as well try and save another life.
No, it's disrespectful.
No, the fire department needs more ambulances.


Ken was 58 years old and ill. His death did not shock Collet, but what the doctor said next, did.

"And then he says, 'But he's not here.' I said, 'What do you mean he's not here?,'" Collet responded.

Collet's father was back at her house on the living room floor, dead.

While Collet was being driven to the hospital, a deputy and a fire crew entered the locked house through the open window and put Ken Collet's body on the living room floor and waited outside. The ambulance Ken had been in was needed in another emergency.

A fire department spokesperson told 10News, "We had a young captain facing a tough decision: Leave the body outside or leave the body in the ambulance, taking it out of service for several hours. We were trying to serve the patient's needs and serve the community needs."




"Is this normal procedure? They said, 'We had to free up the ambulance.' Yeah, that was their reason. 'We had to free up the ambulance,'" Dougherty said.

"Every time I come into my living room now, I just see my dad," Collet said.

Collet and her family are still considering their options. She wants an apology from the fire department, but does not want anybody to get fired. Collet suggested that procedures should be seriously re-examined.