A paramedic has been struck off after launching a foul-mouthed rant at an assault victim he had been called to treat.
Derek Adam, who recently faced a disciplinary hearing in Aberdeen and worked in the north-east, repeatedly shouted and swore at the man who he found lying in pain on the floor of a house.
Adam and a colleague were called out to the property in October, 2017, where he was found to have made a string of inappropriate comments and moved the man without examining him first.
During a tirade of abuse, Adam complained that he would have to take the man into his ambulance, adding: “I’m not pushing you.”
He also swore several times about having to take the patient to hospital, and left the man so intimidated that he refused to be taken for treatment by him despite suffering from serious injuries.
The patient later complained to Adam’s bosses at the Scottish Ambulance Service, where he had worked since 1993.
He said Adam used “lots of foul swear words and, without even examining me or asking where I was hurting, immediately grabbed me by the back and then hauled me off the floor”.
The panel also found that Adam had continued working on three occasions despite allowing his registration with the Health and Care Professionals Council to lapse.
He was found guilty of misconduct and banned from returning to the profession.
The paramedic who was on duty with Adam on the day told the hearing his colleague’s actions could have caused serious harm to the patient.
He gave evidence that he was “totally stunned” by the conduct and that, when they both got back into the ambulance to leave, Adam apologised and said that he had “gone a bit overboard”.
In a written ruling, the tribunal panel said: “The panel has heard evidence that the potential consequences of the registrant’s actions were serious.”
The panel agreed that he put the patient “at real risk of harm by moving him prior to conducting any assessment or examination”.
The report added that the patient “was intimidated by the registrant’s conduct towards him to such an extent that he chose not to go hospital for treatment while he was suffering serious injuries”.
It stated: “The registrant’s conduct throughout the whole incident was aggressive and completely unacceptable.”
Adam was not present at the hearing and did not send a lawyer to represent him.
