Index.hu reports the incident happening to a Hungarian woman who was treated at the neurology department at Jahn Ferenc Hospital after having had a stroke. Having spent a week in the hospital, she was transported home in an ambulance car, but to the wrong address.
The Hungarian woman involved in the incident on 27 March is called Erzsébet. She has had strokes before this particular incident as well. This time, however, the stroke affected her legs and arms, and she could hardly speak and move even one week after it had occurred to her. Given that she was no longer in need of hospitalisation, she was allowed to go home. Her husband was at work, and that is why an ambulance car was ordered to take her home.
The woman in question lives in the southern part of Budapest, but mistakenly, a wrong address was given to the ambulance car taking her to Angyalföld. Both the name of the street and the house number were right only the district was not correct.
Erzsébet recalls the events in the following way:
“I was taken to the ambulance car where they helped me get in, and together with another patient, we set out. We were on the way for quite a long time when we arrived at Pestszentlőrinc where it turned out that the patient who had to be transported to the hospital had already left in a taxi. Then, we picked up another patient in Gyáli Street and took him to Üllői Street for a CT examination. It was then that the ambulanceman turned to me and said that they would take me to Angyalföld. I was confused and told them that I did not live there.”
“Ok, then, we get out” – said the ambulanceman to Erzsébet after trying to convince her that they had to take her to the address indicated on the paper. This is how she arrived at Angyalföld about 30 minutes from where she really lives.
“Given that I cannot move well, they helped me out of the car and put my baggage next to me. Then, they drove off after having made me sign a paper. I did not have my glasses with me and I was so confused standing on the road in my slippers and nightgown with my bags that I did not really know what I signed.” – said Erzsébet one day after the incident.
Erzsébet stood in Üllői Street and asked for help from a woman walking there. It was her who accompanied the confused woman to the reception of a medical institution located nearby from where she called a taxi and went home.
At Jahn Ferenc Hospital, they affirmed that, unfortunately, a wrong address was indicated on the paper given to the ambulance. The reason for the problem is that based on the report of the department in question, the patient aiming to visit her mother gave an address different from the one registered in the hospital.
Although the name of the street and the house number were right, the postcode was mistaken. However, the ambulance paper also includes the phone numbers of the close relatives of the patient who could have been called when it turned out that something was wrong.
The Directorate of the hospital apologised for the incident and the inconvenience they caused. As Pál Győrfi, Communications and PR Director of the Hungarian National Ambulance and Emergency Service reported, they have received no complaints about the incident, but they request more information from the company doing the transportation, which is responsible for carrying out its tasks decently.
Featured image: facebook/Országos Mentőszolgálat