Paramedic: 'Impossible' to help 30-stone collapsed soldier

12 April 2012

A paramedic accused of failing to try to resuscitate a 30-stone man told a court today it would have been "physically impossible" to help him.

Karl Harris, 45, told jurors Barry Baker had collapsed and he believed he was already dead when he entered his home in Brighton, East Sussex, in the early hours of the morning.

The 59-year-old, who lived alone, phoned 999 after experiencing breathing difficulties at 4.14am on November 29 2008 and died after suffering cardiopulmonary arrest.

Prosecutors allege Harris told his less-experienced colleague, Ben Stokes, not to bother trying to resuscitate Mr Baker, and then told a series of lies to police and his bosses to cover his tracks.

Giving his own evidence at Lewes Crown Court, Harris told jurors Mr Stokes, 35, was the first to enter the house, which they found difficult to access due to the masses of undergrowth outside.

Just before he went inside he said he heard a loud thump, which he later thought to have been the sound of Mr Baker collapsing.

Once inside, he found it to be "nearly pitch dark" and had to use his torch to see where Mr Baker was lying in an alcove, surrounded by clutter.

Harris, a former soldier who served in Northern Ireland with the Parachute Regiment, said: "He was slumped up against the wall. He had his head up against his chin. He looked dead by that time."

Asked by Gillian Jones, for the defence, to describe the scene around him, he said the house was in a bad state of disrepair and both the gas heaters and the oven were on full blast.

He said of the experience: "All the worst smells that you could ever imagine in one go. Plus, with the gas and the heat hitting you in the face, it would make you choke as you walked through the door.

"I honestly thought it was going to explode, there was so much gas."

Harris said he either he or Mr Stokes turned off the gas appliances and then attempted to move some of the debris from around Mr Baker in an attempt to get to him so they could carry out a resuscitation.

However "there was no room to move at all", he said. "It would have been physically impossible to get to him in the position he was in."

The paramedic said Mr Baker had also turned blue. He added: "I honestly believed he was dead at that time."

He told jurors either he or Mr Stokes then went out to the ambulance to fetch an automatic defibrillator, which told them there was no activity in the patient's heart.

By this time he thought around 15 minutes had elapsed, the recognised amount of time before it is reasonable to stop resuscitation attempts and pronounce the patient dead.

Asked by Ms Jones if he told Mr Stokes not to bother making attempts to resuscitate Mr Baker before they were sure he was dead, he answered: "No, I wouldn't have said that.

"I may have said 'I don't think it's viable'," he added.

Harris continued: "It was such an unusual, bizarre set of circumstances. There was so much going on. We did everything we could."

Jurors heard a recording of a call Harris then made to his base at Brighton ambulance station, where he explained the problems he and Mr Stokes had had at getting to Mr Baker and said he had already collapsed when they got there.

Asked about the evidence Mr Stokes gave, in which he said Mr Baker collapsed after they arrived, Harris told the court he must have seen him fall down as the trainee technician was the first inside and he went in slightly afterwards.

"I probably said 'we' when I should have said 'I", he said. "That's probably the only mistake I made."

During the call to the ambulance station, he was heard to say: "I'm trying to cover my back here really. We tried to move this guy but it's impossible. You've never seen clutter like it mate, honestly.

"Police are on the scene but there's nothing dodgy about the job. We just didn't try to attempt resuscitation."

Harris, of Tophill Close, Portslade, was suspended from his role at South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust following Mr Baker's death.

He denies a charge of perverting the course of justice.

No charges were brought against Mr Stokes but the ambulance trust placed him on restricted practice following the incident.

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