Amish Shah, who is also a state legislator, drove her to the emergency room himself. “They told me, it probably was, indeed, just food poisoning, and there was nothing the hospital could do for me,” Phoenix resident Dawn Gilpin testified at a state House committee meeting in February.Īfter the paramedics left, Gilpin said her friend Dr. The ABC15 Investigators heard similar stories where patients and their families who called 911 claimed firefighter-paramedics talked them out of taking an ambulance to the hospital when they were really in life-or-death situations. Bruce decided to file a notice of claim, the precursor to a lawsuit, against the city of Phoenix for wrongful death. The Department concluded its investigation in March. “I went, 'Oh my God! Oh, no!' And I just went primal.” His wife, the love of his life, was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later.Ī hospital worker familiar with the circumstances complained to the Phoenix Fire Department. “Her eyes were glassed over, and I knew,” Bruce said. “The last thing she said to me was, 'Are we there yet? Honey? Are we there yet?'” Bruce recalled.īruce put the truck in park and grabbed a wheelchair. The firefighters told investigators they helped Francesca walk to Bruce's truck, and Bruce said it took him nearly 10 minutes to drive to Honor Health Deer Valley Medical Center. I was going to become proactive no matter what they said or did because they weren't moving,” Bruce said. “There was no EKG on her or anything,” Bruce said.īruce said he realized, if he wanted to get his wife to the hospital, he'd have to do it himself. The investigation also pointed out discrepancies in the firefighters' incident report and raised questions about whether the firefighters performed the appropriate tests. However, the captain and firefighters who evaluated her concluded she was like every other COVID-19 patient and did not need to go by ambulance, according to an internal fire department investigation. Big mistake,” Bruce said.įrancesca was suffering from heart problems that would take her life. Instead, Fire Engine 50 raced to their house. ![]() “They're coming they're coming,” the 911 dispatcher said.įrancesca never got that ambulance. “She has said, ‘Please call the ambulance for me.’” ![]() “Shortness of breath from her heart pounding,” Bruce told the 911 dispatcher. She was the glue.”Įverything came unglued last New Year's Eve.įrancesca, a retired school principal, had been sick with COVID-19 for weeks, and she took a turn for the worse that morning. Some died.īruce and Francesca Sandberg had 13 grandchildren in their blended family. ![]() The patients later realized they had been in a life-or-death situation and needed immediate care. The ABC15 Investigators have been looking into several cases where Valley residents complained paramedics either never provided a requested ambulance or talked the patients out of going to the hospital. PHOENIX - A Valley widower is blaming his wife’s death, in part, on the Phoenix Fire Department because firefighter-paramedics failed to detect she was having a heart attack and did not take her to the hospital in an ambulance.īruce Sandberg filed a notice of claim against the city in June, nearly six months after 53-year-old Francesca’s death.
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