After being forced to drive her dead fiancé to the hospital as she waited for immediate assistance from paramedics, a distraught widow has sought explanations.
On September 23, Danny Vasiljevic, 36, contacted Triple-0 to report having trouble breathing and had excruciating chest discomfort as he was in a vehicle in a shopping center outside of Melbourne.
Ariana, his infant daughter, was sitting in the backseat at the time.
Following that, he got in touch with his fiance Katrina Christou, who came running to the location to wait with him for the ambulance.
She had already taken Mr. Vasiljevic to the hospital when the paramedics arrived; there, he fell asleep and could not be roused.
Ms. Christou claims that four weeks after his untimely death, the family still feels let down by the ambulance system while 10-month-old Ariana was robbed of her father.
She further asserts that despite Mr. Vasiljevic’s desperate pleas for assistance, nothing was done to safeguard the safety of their little daughter.
He would have been unconscious and she would have been alone herself if I had arrived minutes later than I did, Ms. Christou told the Herald Sun.
After that first conversation, Danny didn’t make any further contact. On the phone, nobody lingered. There was no follow-up call. He experienced chest discomfort and trouble breathing, it was a Code 1, and he was still left alone for 22 minutes before I called the ambulance.
“My kid will grow up without a father, and without my major source of support, I will be on my own.”
A review into Mr. Vasiljevic’s death has been started by Ambulance Victoria.
Ambulance Victoria has been approached by Daily Mail Australia for comment.
In light of the impending state election next month, Victoria’s opposition government repeated the family’s demands for clarification.
According to health spokesperson Georgie Crozier, “This is truly a devastating, tragic tale and it really illustrates the gravity of Victoria’s health issue which is continuing.”
Sadly, Mr. Vasiljevic passed just a few weeks after a devastating study on Victoria’s emergency response system revealed that 33 individuals had passed away while waiting for an ambulance for an unacceptablely long time in the 17-month period between December 2020 and May 2022.
The report’s author, Inspector-General for Emergency Management Tony Pearce, said that the Coroner’s Court will decide whether or not delays were a factor in the fatalities.
According to the research, the standard was consistently missed, with just 67.8% of calls being handled within five seconds in September 2021.
The “toxic atmosphere” of the EMS service is the subject of a 17-month inquiry by Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner.
In the meanwhile, Mr. Vasiljevic continues to receive a flood of tributes. He is remembered as a guy who always took time to check in with loved ones and placed the needs of others before his own.
His fiancée and daughter have received support from friends and family to raise approximately $60,000 as they continue to mourn the tragic loss.
After three years of engagement, the pair had been dating for nine years.
On a fundraising website, Ms. Christou said, “Danny would be so amazed by the care and love being offered to our lovely young family.”
Please know how immensely appreciative I am that people are assisting me in working through this pain by relieving the immediate burden of bills, payments, and money in the next months. “I can’t find the words to adequately say anything at the time. The compassion has impacted me deeply.