2 Investigators: ‘Basic’ Ambulance Delays Treatment For Wounded Man

July 19, 2012 12:00 AM " CHICAGO (CBS) — When you call an ambulance, you expect that it is going to be fully equipped and staffed by trained paramedics.

But in Chicago that does not always happen.

There are Basic Life Support ambulances and Advanced Life Support ambulances. CBS 2′s Dave Savini and the Better Government Association report on the case of a stabbing victim whose care was delayed.

It is an example, some say, of why all ambulances need to be advanced.

A man was attacked along the 1700 block of West Cermak in Chicago. He was injured with severe pains in his abdomen.

Ambulance 85 from Chinatown was sent and started the victim on a journey spanning two different hospitals, which greatly delayed medical care. Chicago Fire Department sources say the EMS crew botched patient transportation and care.

According to sources, it was not until this ambulance got to the first hospital that a hospital staff member discovered the victim had actually been stabbed.

Better Government Association logo. (Credit: BGA)

The problem, says sources, is Ambulance 85 is a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance. The crews on board are not paramedics; BLS crews are Emergency Medical Technicians, or EMTs "

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