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Emergency Calls Ignored: Man Dies Waiting for Ambulance
3 May
Summary
- Calls for an ambulance were not answered for over 16 minutes.
- The coroner found the cardiac arrest was treatable and survivable.
- The emergency service system failed during a pandemic crisis.
Nick Panagiotopoulos, a 47-year-old father of three, died on October 16, 2021, after significant delays in answering his triple zero calls. His family and a neighbor also struggled to get through to the state's Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA).
Coronial inquest findings revealed that calls should be answered within five seconds, but 16 minutes and five seconds elapsed before an ambulance was dispatched. Victorian Coroner Catherine Fitzgerald stated that Panagiotopoulos's cardiac arrest was treatable and survivable if ESTA had responded in time.
The coroner noted that while the COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented pressure on emergency services, the crisis was not unforeseeable. The system's failure in Nick's case directly led to his preventable death.
