A YOUNG mum died of a brain bleed after a paramedic failed to carry out basic checks.

An emergency ambulance was called for Sharon Caffrey, 41, from Fallowfield, because she had a blinding headache and was being sick.

But when paramedic John Johnson arrived he failed to check her temperature properly, or examine each eye with a torch to establish how sick she was. Miss Caffrey collapsed after he allowed her to walk downstairs.

The mother-of-two fell into a coma in the ambulance on the way to the Manchester Royal Infirmary and died of a brain haemorrhage five days later without regaining consciousness.

Mr Johnson, from Leigh, was found guilty of "gross negligence by omission" and demoted to technician status at a North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) internal disciplinary hearing.

A second hearing by the Health Professions Council (HPC) in London last week found him guilty of misconduct after being told how he failed to carry out the correct procedures in establishing her condition.

Miss Caffrey's partner Dave Edwards, from Prestwich, told how he had "waited his whole life" to meet someone like her. He described how he watched horrified as she got rapidly worse and told how he will never know if Miss Caffrey would have survived with better treatment. Mr Edwards believes Mr Johnson should have been struck off over the incident and claims the paramedic was "offhand", repeatedly asking him if she had taken drugs.

Headaches

Miss Caffrey had suffered a series of severe headaches in the weeks before her death but two check-ups had failed to establish the cause of the problem.

She had been into Manchester city centre on 19 December 2005 but came home after developing a severe headache. Her son Tyrone Robertson, 26, was looking after her but she insisted he take her daughter Cleo out to celebrate her 11th birthday.

Mr Edwards came round to the house to keep an eye on her and seeing how ill she was he called an ambulance just before 7pm.

He said: "It was a nightmare, I was horrified and in shock. One moment she was sitting in bed talking to me and the next she was in a coma. She was a tough cookie - too tough. I wish we had got help earlier but she'd had a check up a few days before and they said she was fine, so she didn't want to make a fuss.

"We were going to get married, we had such a lot in common. I'd waited my whole life to meet someone like her. She was devoted to her children and they are a credit to her. She would be so proud of how they've managed. She had just started at college and wanted to start her own business. We had so many plans for the future."

Mr Edwards added: "The paramedic was off-hand from the start, he asked me three times what drugs she had taken and I said pain killers - it was only when he kept asking I realised he meant illegal drugs, I was shocked, she didn't take drugs."

At the HPC hearing, Mr Edwards broke down as he described how her condition worsened: "I turned round and she was rigid on the stairs. I know she was rigid because of how her arms were contorted. I knew she was in trouble. I ran down the stairs and I started shouting and there was no response whatsoever.

"They tried to bend her into a chair when she was rigid. It was just ridiculous. I went in the ambulance, I was with her all the time. I was the one who noticed when she went into a coma the second time, He didn't notice it, it was me that alerted him to it."

The HPC panel heard Mr Johnson, who qualified as a paramedic in 1993 and works in the city centre, claimed he did take Miss Caffrey's condition seriously and denied persistently asking whether she had taken illegal drugs.

They were also told Mr Johnson, who did not attend the hearing, ignored North West Ambulance Service's (NWAS) rules for assessing a patient and tried to gauge how sick Miss Caffrey was by talking to her instead of measuring her blood pressure, he touched her head to check her temperature instead of taking an accurate reading and assessed how her pupils reacted to light using a bedroom light rather than shining a torch into each of her eyes.

He wrote in his notes that she might be suffering from meningitis or a migraine. He also failed to call the hospital and warn them he was bringing in a seriously ill patient.

Panel chairman, Martin Ryder, said: "Mr Johnson failed to perform to a standard he knew he should have been working to.

Protocols

"There were clear protocols concerning patient assessment and treatment. For example, he did not take the patient's temperature in an acceptable manner and did not assess pupil reaction adequately.

"He handled the patient in a way that failed to acknowledge the seriousness of her condition. The patient was encouraged by Mr Johnson to walk down the stairs, but when she was unable to complete the descent, and having collapsed, a carry chair was obtained."

An NWAS spokesperson said: "We were aware of the incident at the time of its occurrence and undertook an internal investigation which dealt with the matter and the individual appropriately. The incident was then referred to the HPC.

"We accept the findings of the HPC hearing and support their decision. If there are any additional recommendations to the actions already taken, we will review those as well."

The HPC will review the case again in six months and decide if he should be allowed to practice as a paramedic again, they could also decide to impose a permanent ban.

The paramedic named is not Stockport paramedic John Johnson, known as JJ, who the M.E.N. reported had saved the life of close friend and former colleague, Walter Aspley, of Offerton, in August 2001.

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