Horror reason paramedic did not revive woman

Scathing findings were handed down against paramedic Rick Clark for his actions three years ago, with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) finding he deprived the woman of any chance of survival.

Mr Clark was working as a paramedic in July 2020 when he was called out to help a female patient who had collapsed at Lake Victoria in Maryborough in regional Victoria.

VCAT this week found that Mr Clark engaged in professional misconduct, including failing to provide adequate clinical care, when he decided to withhold resuscitation on the woman.

When Mr Clark and his partner arrived just before 11am, the woman was conscious however making “incomprehensible sounds”.

Over the next 48 minutes her condition deteriorated and she died.

An Ambulance Victoria investigation found that the actions taken by Mr Clark in the first 27 minutes were “reasonable and appropriate”.

However, at 11.25am the woman went into cardiac arrest and, according to the tribunal, “Mr Clark (incorrectly) formed the view” that the woman was flatlining and subsequently did not attempt to resuscitate her.

The tribunal said that Mr Clark ignored the concerns expressed by another paramedic who said “it did not feel right”.

The tribunal said that Mr Clark indicated the woman was flatlining, which was contrary to data from an electrocardiogram monitor which indicated she had a slower than normal heart rate.

During his interview, Mr Clark said he decided against CPR for a number of reasons, including that the woman was overweight, he did not her vaccination status and they were close to the water’s edge.

He also said bird poo on the ground was another reason not to resuscitate.

“It is apparent that, at the time of the Ambulance Victoria investigation, Mr Clark was defensive about his actions – believing he was right to withhold resuscitation – and consequently lacked any real remorse or insight,” the tribunal said.

Following the incident he was suspended by Ambulance Victoria and in early December 2020 resigned as a paramedic.

VCAT ordered that Clark be reprimanded and disqualified from applying for registration as a health practitioner for five years

“We are comfortably satisfied that the allegations have been proven and the conduct engaged in by Mr Clark amounts to professional misconduct in each case,” the tribunal said.

The tribunal found that performing CPR may not have saved the woman’s life.

However it also said: “Clark’s decision not to commence resuscitation deprived her of any chance of survival, was inconsistent with relevant guidelines and was substantially below the standards expected of a paramedic of an equivalent level of training and experience.”

Mr Clark now works in an “unrelated field”, the tribunal said.

VCAT also found that the information Mr Clark told his colleagues that the woman was flatlining was “clearly false”.

“While mistakes can of course be made in the hectic and stressful situations that confront paramedics, often on a daily basis, Mr Clark’s lack of self-awareness and professional humility meant that critical opportunities to remedy the situation were lost,” the tribunal said in a judgment published this week.

The tribunal found that it was wrong of Mr Clark to declare that she was flatlining and at the time she had a “ventricular rhythm” – three or more consecutive heartbeats of between 20 to 40 beats per minute.

It said that he withheld CPP “without proper cause” and without “reasonable grounds to do so”.

VCAT found the decision to pronounce her dead at 11.32am was incorrect as she still had a heartbeat at the time.

Mr Clark’s lawyer said in a letter to the tribunal the decisions about the woman’s care were made jointly by other paramedics on the day and that he was not the most senior paramedic on the team.

“He accepts that there is clear evidence to establish that aspects of the patient’s management should have been done differently. He accepts his role in the outcome,” the letter also said.

During an Ambulance Victoria investigation Mr Clark maintained he was right to withhold resuscitation.

However, the tribunal found, through his acceptance of the facts of the case, he had “developed some level of insight and remorse”.

Originally published as ‘Lacked any real remorse’: Paramedic refused to revive patient over bird poo on ground, tribunal told