Essex ambulance 'have a fag' paramedic struck off
A paramedic who told a vulnerable man suffering a seizure to "have a drink and a fag" has been struck off.
Brian Percy had a 30-year-career with East of England Ambulance Service in Saffron Walden, Essex, when he made the comments in September 2011.
Among the comments made by Percy were: "It's you again". "I'm not paid to listen to that". "Go and have a fag and a drink," and "He's putting it on".
He also incorrectly treated a patient suffering an allergic reaction.
The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) agreed the misconduct had the potential of putting patients "at risk of serious injury".
'Waste of time'
A panel said it was satisfied Percy made inappropriate comments to the vulnerable patient.
The panel also heard Percy, who worked for the ambulance service since 1979, completed a patient care record without physically examining the patient or carrying out any observations.
When it came to writing the record, he said: "What do you want me to write on it, 'that it was a complete waste of time?' or words to that effect," the panel heard.
Two months later, he was responding to an emergency call and failed to identify another patient was hypothermic and hyperglycaemic and needed to go to hospital.
He was also accused of misconduct over another 999 call-out in January 2012 when he failed to accurately assess the condition of a patient who was having an allergic reaction.
Percy incorrectly gave the patient adrenaline via the intravascular route and did not record the error or actual dosage, the HCPC heard.
The matter only came to light a week later when the patient reported the incident.
"All of the particulars relate to core skills that should have been well within the registrant's knowledge and competence bearing in mind the length of his service as a paramedic and seniority that he had attained within the profession," the panel concluded.
Percy, who retired in May 2012, had not engaged with the panel and was not present at the hearing.