The on-duty doctor at the Kolašin Emergency Department refused to send a vehicle to the field despite a report that an American tourist had fallen ill at a restaurant in Crkvine, near Kolašin.
This was announced on her Facebook profile by a woman from the organization of the tourist tour, and she later confirmed the same to "Vijesti" in a phone conversation. "Vijesti" was also officially confirmed by the Emergency Medical Services (ZHMP) that the doctor did not go to the field.
According to her, after the on-duty doctor at the Kolašin Emergency Department refused to go to the scene, the American citizen was taken by an employee of the restaurant in a private vehicle to Podgorica, to the Clinical Center of Montenegro, where he was provided with assistance and it was determined that his life was out of danger.
In addition to refusing to send the team into the field, the doctor, according to a woman from the tour organization, was unpleasant in conversation.
When asked about the incident on October 12, the Emergency Medical Service told Vijesti that the doctor on duty submitted a statement stating that he "did not accept field intervention, because the person who called had already determined the diagnosis and requested that a vehicle be sent."
A woman from the tour organization, whose identity is known to the editorial staff and who described the event on her Facebook profile, wrote that in a phone conversation with a doctor, she tried to explain that the American tourist had become ill.
"I call the ambulance: 'Good afternoon, please send an ambulance to the Crkvine restaurant, because a man has fallen ill, it is possible that he has a heart attack, but I don't know that, so please send an ambulance. Basically, it is an older man, an American who has been on vacation in Montenegro for three days...'. The answer I received from the doctor on duty, whose name I don't know, is, and I quote: 'I don't want to send a vehicle, but let someone load it and bring it'. I explain that we are not able to, because there is no vehicle, and the gentleman is part of a group and is traveling by bus. Then he just started shouting that he will not send a vehicle and, if it is a heart attack, 'may God bless him'," the woman wrote.
In an interview with a reporter from "Vijesti", she confirmed these claims and explained that the elderly tourist from the US was eventually taken to the KCCG Emergency Center in the car of one of the restaurant employees. She said that another vehicle was not available to them, because the tourists were traveling by bus.
The ZHMP state that "the caller was told to put the patient in the car and take him to the Kolašin HMP Unit."
"Regarding your questions regarding the actions of the doctor who was engaged in the HMP unit in Kolašin, on October 12th of this year, in relation to the request for the transport of a patient, a foreign citizen who was in the Crkvine restaurant, we inform you that the doctor on duty submitted a statement in which he stated that he did not accept the field intervention because the person who called had already determined the diagnosis and requested that a vehicle be sent. He assumes all responsibility for this procedure and does not agree with the structure of the sentences and words that the person used," the ZHMP responded.
The Kolašin Emergency Department has been understaffed for years, as the media has been reporting for a long time. In that town, a shift is usually covered by one doctor, and when the team goes out into the field, the Kolašin Emergency Department is mostly staffed by a nurse or technician.
The case that occurred in Kolašin over the weekend is not the only one, as citizens often complain that despite even serious symptoms, emergency teams from several Montenegrin municipalities do not go to the field, but instead ask that the patient be brought to their premises.
The proceedings are ongoing before the Basic Court in Podgorica based on the indictment of the Podgorica Basic State Prosecutor's Office against SS, emergency room doctors in the capital.
The report, as previously announced by the prosecutor's office, was filed due to reasonable suspicion that she committed the criminal offense of failing to provide medical assistance, by "refusing to provide medical assistance to a person contrary to her duty." AV, who was in immediate danger of death."
The Emergency Medical Service did not respond to questions from the editorial staff regarding this case and other complaints from patients who claim that doctors often explain to them that due to their age or other reasons, they should come to the Emergency Room alone.
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