Helpless parents forced to watch trapped son dying in wreckage after 999 operator 'forgot' to call firefighters to free himhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1D0Sq2mNyA terrible story where human error was involved, by an overworked public servant at the end of a 12-hour stint.
Buried deep down in the story we find:
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"A post-mortem examination revealed that the teenager died from the head injury. The pathologist added that he did not think the delay contributed to Justin's death"
Incredibly, the comments are being balanced, supportive of the 999 worker, and generally balanced and sympathetic to the family. I originally assumed this would be a top-trumps between feral yob who bought it on himself vs bloated Labour fatcat too busy doing lesbian moon-maiden awareness training to take the call.
Kudos for once to the commenters, this is the top-rated:
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I agree that the 12 hr shift is too long, it may have been a contributing factor. The call handler make a horrific error but I doubt it was in any way deliberate... not a 'oh forget it, I'm going home' kind of moment, but a human oversight, perhaps tired. She was completely honest about it, didn't cover it up and spends her days saving lives, so she won't be a bad person. She has taken responsibility for it. It must be awful for his loved ones though, all that can come out of this, is an improved system at the call centres to prevent it happening again. Most of the critical posters here lucky to be in jobs where human error results only in missing paper work or numerical errors, not the deaths of human beings (who you are trying to save)
...and this not far below it:
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I think it's in rather poor taste to use the sad events of this tragedy as bait for readers to get wound up, as they usually do. What good could come out of it? The best you can do is encourage people to leave messages of sympathy, rather than venom, by wording both the headline and the article appropriately. I'm sure the operator, Ms. Rooney will be dealt with appropriately as the hearing reaches its verdict, but I extend my sympathies to her, too, as she must feel truly awful. Just stop for a moment and put yourselves in her position, and imagine how you'd feel if people were vilifying you from afar (as gutless as they are for doing so). My thoughts go out to Justin's family and friends.
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