Father lucky to be alive after falling through window in freak accident at Brisbane home – as paramedics issue a grovelling apology

A young mother has recalled the harrowing night her husband almost bled to death while waiting for an ambulance after a freak accident at home.

Tradie Elliott Shaw, 30, severed his left hand, two arteries, 11 tendons and two nerves at his home in Alexandra Hills, south of Brisbane, a fortnight ago.

Mr Shaw suffered the horrific injuries after tripping over his daughter’s bouncer and falling through a window.

The father of two might not be alive today if it weren’t for the quick thinking of his neighbor, a retired paramedic who took him to hospital when the Triple-0 operator couldn’t tell Mr Shaw’s wife, Sarah, when the ambulance would come. arrive.

Mrs Shaw has spoken out about her husband’s life-changing ordeal after the family was abandoned by emergency services, prompting a groveling apology from Queensland Ambulance.

“The apology is appreciated, but what does an apology mean without action,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Shaw claimed the triple-0 operator hung up a call after her neighbour, who has 35 years’ experience as a paramedic, advised the incident was a ‘code one’, requiring flashing lights and sirens.

“On the second call my neighbor explained who he was and alerted the operator that this was code one and that he was bleeding,” Mrs Shaw recalled.

“This operator then said, ‘You can’t talk to me like that.’ If there is anything else, please call back. Then she hung up on us.”

‘At no time during these calls was any assistance offered beyond merely ‘applying pressure’.

She and her neighbor were forced to use two belts and a phone charger cord as tourniquets while Mr Shaw bled profusely on the kitchen floor.

After twenty minutes and three panicked calls to triple-0, including the ‘code one’, the neighbor drove a rapidly deteriorating Mr Shaw to the nearest hospital in Redlands, which was ten minutes away.

“At that point our neighbor said we couldn’t wait any longer and had to take him to a hospital,” she said.

Mr Shaw was later taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital under floodlights and sirens to undergo emergency surgery.

At that point, he had been without blood flow to his arm and hand for two hours.

Mr. Shaw will never be able to use his hand in the same way again.

‘My husband was dying and our neighbor saved him. Not the people we depend on,” Ms. Shaw revealed in a moving public Facebook plea.

‘My five-month-old and three-year-old sons grew up almost without knowing their father.

“He lives, but our lives will never be the same.”

Mr Shaw is now recovering at home as his wife fought back tears and remembered how close she came to losing him.

“Triple 000 said they were on their way with lights and sirens but couldn’t give me an ETA,” she told Nine News.

“Thank God we made the right decision: we had to go, because if we had listened to that advice, my husband would not be alive.”

Two Queensland Ambulance district directors met with the couple on Monday to apologize for the delay and vowed to work with the family on their concerns.

The ambulance service says it experienced pressure in southeast Queensland on the night of the incident.

‘An ambulance was deployed and went to the scene with flashing lights and sirens. The QAS apologizes to the patient and his family for the delays they have experienced,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

‘In this case, the patient chose to be privately transported to hospital prior to QAS arrival.

‘The QAS uses renowned systems to support the planning, management and deployment of resources to ensure our most critical patients are seen first.’

Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman agreed the ambulance response that evening was “definitely not good enough”.

“I sincerely apologize to the family, I cannot imagine the distress this incident would have caused,” she said.

‘I would like to thank the neighbor, a retired paramedic, for providing incredible care.

‘I would also like to thank the hardworking healthcare workers in local hospitals for caring for this patient and providing the exceptional care to ensure he makes a full recovery.

“Our paramedics do an excellent job caring for Queenslanders every day, but in this case it was definitely not good enough.”