A paramedic who told a woman who had suffered a stroke to "stop being a baby" and accused her of lying about being unable to walk has been struck off. Rachel Claire Lemonofides made a series of "inappropriate and degrading" comments while attending a 999 call at the woman's home in January 2024, a tribunal heard.
The patient, who was later found to have suffered a stroke and a life-threatening burst aorta, was "forced to crawl downstairs" after Lemonofides refused to believe she was unable to walk. The North West Ambulance Service paramedic told her: "You are lying, stop what you are doing, stop being a baby, let's go downstairs."
Patient's Condition Deteriorated
Lemonofides also told the patient she was "wasting time" and "making a scene", before saying: "You have 60 seconds to get up or we are leaving." The patient was later transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital for emergency surgery after doctors found she had suffered a brain bleed and an abdominal aortic aneurysm. She was in a coma for 10 days and was unable to speak until around March 2024. She said doctors had given her a 50 per cent chance of surviving emergency surgery.
The Health and Care Professions Tribunal found Lemonofides had failed to recognise the seriousness of the patient's condition, despite her experiencing chest pain, low blood pressure, numbness in her legs and a "not particularly normal" ECG. The panel said there was "enough physical evidence" available to Lemonofides to recognise that the patient was seriously ill and required urgent hospital treatment.
Racially Motivated Comments
The tribunal also heard Lemonofides made a string of comments towards the patient while in her home, including: "You are stuck on the floor like a child. I am really mad now because people are waiting for this ambulance, and you are acting like a child. You are not dying, you have got a bad back. It is not as though you have had your leg ripped off. You have gone through child labour which is worse than this pain, so you are just being dramatic."
The tribunal heard the patient was crying out in pain on a number of occasions and that Lemonofides was heard telling her to "shut up". It was also found the former paramedic had discriminated against the patient's ethnicity and that elements of her behaviour were racially motivated. The panel heard Lemonofides repeatedly referred to "black magic" and described the patient as behaving as if she were "possessed". It was found the comments were made about the patient's race and showed "hostility and a discriminatory attitude" towards the patient.
Colleague Reported Incident
Another paramedic who was present during the incident was so shocked by her colleague's behaviour that she reported it to her employer. Lemonofides later told the colleague: "If it had been filmed, you would watch it back and laugh at it." The panel found this was an attempt to "minimise or make light" of what had happened and influence her junior colleague into believing the incident was not serious.
A complaint was submitted by Lemonofides' colleague on January 13, 2024, while a written complaint was sent by a relative of the patient two days later. Her operational duties were restricted by NWAS on March 5, 2024, before being dismissed on July 11, 2024 following a disciplinary hearing.
Struck Off Register
The tribunal heard Lemonofides admitted her conduct towards the patient was unprofessional and breached professional boundaries, and admitted failing to recognise the seriousness of the patient's condition. However, she denied that it had been discriminatory or racially motivated and denied making the comment about watching the incident back and laughing. The tribunal found all six factual particulars proved.
The panel found the conduct amounted to serious professional misconduct and there was a "high risk of repetition". It said the nature of her behaviour, "in particular the discriminatory and racially motivated conduct", were "so serious that they are incompatible with continued registration". As a result, Lemonofides was struck off the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register.
A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "The individual no longer works for the trust. All of our patients are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and there is no place within our organisation for colleagues who do not uphold those values."
