Judgment call of attending paramedic was not negligent

An ambulance officer and paramedic arrived at an emergency scene six minutes after receiving an emergency call.

They were confronted with a 25-year-old chronic asthmatic who had suffered a severe asthma attack. She was on her back on the grass with lockjaw and her face was blue. She was effectively in respiratory arrest with only two laboured breaths per minute. Her blood pressure was high at 155/100 and she was in tachycardia with an elevated heart rate of 150 beats per minute (bpm).

She was oxygen aided immediately and salbutamol (a bronchodilator used to open the airways) was administered. The paramedic chose not to administer adrenaline (an alternative bronchodilator amongst other effects) due to a risk of causing heart failure when she already had a very high heart rate.