AN OBESE mum died when her treatment was delayed while paramedics searched for a bigger stretcher to take her to hospital, an inquest heard.
Tragic Bridgette Witcombe, who once weighed 31 stone, had been vomiting for 24 hours when her family called an ambulance.
Paramedics feared she had a stomach infection and decided hospital treatment was needed, the hearing was told.
But first they had to search for a large stretcher and find an ambulance to accommodate it.
When it arrived at her home 20 minutes later, staff could not fit it in the house and Mrs Witcombe was asked to walk. She died later in hospital.
South Western Ambulance Service insisted its staff acted “with care and skill” after a coroner found that the 52-year-old died of natural causes.
But her relatives slammed the paramedics and claimed more should have been done to help her.
After the inquest, Bridgette’s grieving husband, Robert, from Whitchurch, Bristol, said: “I am not at all happy.
“They were outside and did not help her down the stairs. My son and I had to do it. They were just stood outside laughing and talking. It is just wrong.”
Her son, Ben, claimed: “One of the paramedics was asking me about my game of darts that I just come back from.
“I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to rip his head off. I just don’t trust the ambulance service anymore. They could have done a much better job.”
The hearing at Avon coroner’s court, near Bristol, heard the mother of three had struggled with various weight problems and medical conditions for more than a decade.
Mrs Witcombe started vomiting at home on February 19 this year but refused to go to a doctor despite repeated pleas by her husband.
After she began vomiting every 15 minutes that evening the family called 111 which in turn called for an ambulance to her home.
Paramedic Phillip Greenlaw and emergency care assistant Ashley Campbell rushed to her house and carried out check-ups on her in the bedroom upstairs.
They told the court she had been running a fever, heightened blood sugar levels and heart rate and pain in the abdomen.
Paramedics thought she might have an infection in her stomach and wanted to take her to Bristol Royal Infirmary for treatment.
But because Mrs Witcombe was too heavy and wide, they had to call for another ambulance with a bigger bariatric stretcher which could be extended for her.
Emergency care assistants Dana Noriega and Michael Howells arrived more than 20 minutes later after finding a bigger stretcher and ambulance, and carried out their checks.
Mrs Witcombe started breathing heavily when she got to the bottom of the steps and had to sit down and be dragged to the front door where the stretcher was waiting.
Once there she started choking and the medical crew had to perform CPR while they took her to hospital.
Despite doctors’ best efforts, she died just after midnight the following day.
A letter from a neighbour, submitted as part of the inquest, read: “We saw Bridgette slowly coming down the stairs with the support of her family members.
“The paramedics did not seem to offer any assistance and the four paramedics stood outside talking among themselves.
“We watched as Bridgette struggled to exit the house unassisted by the paramedics.”
Paramedic David Greenlaw admitted that on reflection he should have asked for back-up with a much higher priority.
But assistant coroner Dr Peter Harrowing absolved the paramedics of blame, saying they had tried their hardest to save Mrs Witcombe’s life.
A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service said: “The coroner concluded that the patient died of natural causes and was satisfied that the attending crews carried out their duties with care and skill.”
Pathologist Edward Sheffield said Mrs Witcombe had a much larger-than-normal heart and died as a result of infection in the stomach and morbid obesity.
Her airways were clogged and she could hardly breathe.
A report from her GP, Dr Joseph Blackburn, showed she had various medical problems, including Type 2 diabetes, swelling in her legs and problems with her weight.
She was around 24½ stone in 2005, but went up to 31 stone in 2010 and failed to lose much weight despite having a gastric band fitted and being sent to slimming classes.
The inquest was told a bariatric stretcher was only used in rare incidents after paramedics considered the person’s weight, height and mass before deciding on the right one.
If Mrs Witcombe could not get downstairs by herself, the paramedics would have had to call the fire service to smash open a window and transport her through it.
The family told the inquest she already had blue lips by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs and had asked the paramedics to bring the stretcher in.
But they allegedly refused, saying it was too large, and instead tried to get Mrs Witcombe to go to the front door.
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