Old couple in need: emergency services let them down!

Old couple in need: emergency services let them down!

It was a shocking night for an elderly couple from Northern County who found themselves in dire straits. 74-year-old Elke Hoffmann had a heavily bleeding wound on the bridge of her nose after an operation on May 27th. At 2 a.m. on June 4, she woke up to find her head lying in a pool of blood. Her worried husband, 77, promptly picked up the phone and called emergency services on 112 at 1:56 a.m.

However, the situation quickly became complicated. After a long questioning, the husband was told that the emergency services were not responsible and that he should contact the medical on-call service on 116117. In a panic, he tried to make eight phone calls in just 30 minutes but received no immediate help. Worse still, he was threatened with the use of flashing lights and police if he insisted on emergency services.

The desperate decision

Since there was no quick help in sight, the husband decided to drive his wife to the emergency aid at the BG Accident Clinic Murnau himself. On the way there, the accident happened: he was caught by a speed camera. Christoph Fischer, the deputy head of the Integrated Control Center (ILS) in Weilheim, confirmed that the incident was being processed in complaint management and that the tapes of the emergency calls had been secured. The husband is now considering filing a report due to the failure to provide assistance, which again raises fundamental questions about emergency care.

The couple's situation shines a bright light on the existing deficits in the German emergency system. According to a report by the Björn Steiger Foundation, which was commissioned together with the Bertelsmann Foundation, there are considerable doubts about the efficiency and quality of emergency care in Germany. Various deficiencies in processes, organization and collaboration were identified that could potentially be responsible for such threatening experiences. The research, carried out by Maastricht University, also describes possible reform approaches to improve emergency care and ensure that such incidents do not become the norm. These weaknesses can even cause dangerous delays in life-saving measures, as the couple's example makes clear.

Legal consequences of failure to provide assistance

Failure to provide adequate assistance in emergency situations represents not only a moral problem, but also a legal one. According to notfallsanitaeter-aktuell.de German law sees this as an independent offense according to Section 323c of the Criminal Code, which in the worst case can be punished with a fine or imprisonment. Understanding solidarity and the ethical obligations to provide assistance in critical moments is essential to maintaining trust in our social structures. Any of us can find ourselves in an emergency – and we should always ask ourselves: What are we doing to help others?

Such an event highlights the urgent need to sensitize and train both people and systems to increase effectiveness and willingness to help. It is high time that we all show a good hand for our fellow human beings and work for better emergency care.