Paramedic jailed over 30-stone man death

In the U.K. a paramedic has recently been jailed for 12 months after lying about why he did not try to resuscitate a 30-stone man.

The paramedic, Karl Harris, 45, told jurors it was “physically impossible” to help 59-year-old Barry Baker after he collapsed at home in Brighton, East Sussex. Prosecutors allege Mr Harris told his colleague Ben Stokes not to bother resuscitating Mr Baker and that he told a series of lies to cover his tracks.

Guidelines applying to ambulance clinicians state that “vigorous resuscitation attempts must be undertaken whenever there is a chance of survival, however remote,” the court was told.

Prosecutor Mr Barton said: “This defendant was fully aware of this. On that night, he ignored all training and all of his experience and he made a snap decision.

“That snap decision was that Barry Baker was already dead and so he would not try to resuscitate him.”

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Footnote: Although officially the U.K now uses metric units to measure mass (weight), the stone is still commonly referenced when describing a person’s weight. One stone is equal to 14 pounds.

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