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Ryan St George in hospital after falling from the prison bunk |
Paramedic in tears as she relives night a prisoner fought for his life
‘The whole thing was so wrong,’ says witness who tended inmate brain-damaged by fall
A FORMER paramedic who broke down in tears as she recalled the moment she saw a prisoner fighting for his life on a cell floor told the High Court on Monday: “The whole thing was just so wrong.”
Ryan St George, 39, was left permanently brain damaged and unable to communicate properly after falling from a top bunk bed during an epileptic seizure and cracking his head. He will need constant care for the rest of his life.
His family’s lawyers have argued in the High Court over the last three days that he should never have been put in a top bunk because of his history of seizures, which had been made known to prison staff when he was booked in. They also claim there were unacceptable delays and a lack of urgency in getting adequate medical help to Mr St George, leading to his brain being starved of oxygen and causing irreversible damage.
The compensation case against the Home Office, possibly worth millions of pounds, is due to be summed up today (Thursday) before Mr Justice McKay will retire to consider the facts and reach a judgment.
Like the Princess Diana inquest, taking place just a few rooms away from Mr St George’s hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, it is nearly 10 years to the day since he fell from the bunk in a 20-bed dormitory in Brixton Prison.
Two key witnesses will not be giving evidence to the hearing – a prison doctor on duty in November 1997, who has since had a stroke and is considered too ill to be questioned on the witness stand, and a nurse who has since left the prison service and cannot be traced.
Mr St George, who was living in Gresse Street, Bloomsbury, at the time, was just a few days into a four-month sentence for shoplifting when he fell six feet to the ground without making any attempt to break his fall. He was “fitting” for almost two hours during the confusion.
A former pupil of Rhyl and William Ellis schools, he had struggled with a heroin addiction and was a heavy drinker. His seizures may have been linked to missing out on drugs while in custody.
In a dramatic first day of evidence, paramedic Eleanor Jones recalled the chaotic night at the jail in November 1997 when Mr St George was injured. She has since quit the ambulance service.
“Short of actually being a death, it was actually quite a distressing and horrific case,” she said. “The job really upset me because it seemed to me there was a lack of caring. The staff all seemed very casual.
“No one actually identified themselves as prison nurses. Ryan was surrounded by people. It was chaotic. The inmates were concerned about him.”
Ms Jones said she and her colleague, Deborah Tems, had not been told that Mr St George had suffered a gash to the head and was bleeding profusely. To make matters worse, she said the ambulance was prevented from getting into the prison, first by a door that was jammed shut and then by a broken-down security van blocking the entrance.
She and her colleague had to sprint across the prison grounds and up three flights of stairs to get to Mr St George.
“There are some jobs you remember,” she said. “This is one I had reason to remember. The whole thing was so wrong. It was odd that the doors got stuck, odd that the vehicle broke down, odd that nobody mentioned about his head wound to us. There was a lack of urgency when time was absolutely paramount.”
During her evidence, Ms Jones burst into tears and had to wipe her eyes with tissues. She told the judge: “I’m sorry. Can I take a few moments?”
Mr St George is now staying with his aunt and carer, Margaret St George, who lives in Caversham Road, Kentish Town. When the New Journal visited him three years ago, he spent the afternoon rolling a flattened basketball up and down a tray. His eyes flickered when a reporter entered the room but he has no way of communicating.
In the corner of his room there was a football pennant which read: “I’d rather be watching Wimbledon.”
Ms Jones, who is in her 30s, said: “We found the patient unresponsive with a big head wound. It was quite shocking because it hadn’t been mentioned before. We believed the patient who had an epileptic fit was going to be conscious, drowsy and generally with it. That is not what we found.”
She said there was no record of Mr St George having been given any oxygen before her arrival. “It’s just sad,” Ms Jones told the court. “He was just panting.”
Ms Tems, who is still working in the ambulance service, told the court: “I remember feeling uneasy about the situation. I remember there being no presence of any professional. There was no official handover to us.
“We were trying to get information from prisoners. It was a hectic situation. The prisoners told us he had been on the top bunk. I remember being uncomfortable in the presence of inmates. We were very much alone and on our own.”
She added that there was a further delay as they left the south London prison with jail staff insisting on two wardens travelling in the ambulance.
Ms Tems said: “The delay was unacceptable, especially when about to leave the prison area. This was a dire emergency. I remember saying to the officers: ‘This patient isn’t going to run away.’ He was very ill. It did become quite confrontational.”
An inmate, known as Jason, who was serving a short-term sentence and has since rebuilt his life as a successful car salesman outside London, criticised the prison staff.
He told the court he had thought Mr St George had died until he later read a newspaper article on the incident.
“They [prison nurses] were not rushing,” Jason said. “They took their time. The orderlies did nothing more than we did for him. There was a bloke named Tom. who put him in the recovery position. Tom saved his life.”
Jason was asked why he had come to the court to give evidence, to which he replied: “I want him [David St George, Ryan’s father] to know the circumstances. I’m not trying to get anything. The circumstances of that evening were so damning I shall never ever forget them.”
David Pittaway, QC, representing Mr St George, said: “Had Mr St George not been allocated a top bunk and therefore not fallen and struck his head on the floor, on the balance of probabilities the seizure would have been self-limiting and he would not have gone on to develop status epilepticus.”
And he added: “Had the prison medical service responded adequately to the emergency, his airway would not have been obstructed and he would not have suffered severe hypoxic brain damage.”
The case continues today (Thursday). |
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