2nd Bucks County Incident Ends in Delay

A second incident has occurred at the Bucks County (Penn.) 911 center that started with a response delay, and ended with the death of a woman. Officials say a woman suffered a heart attack at home last Sunday after returning from shopping and her friend dialed 911 from a cellular phone. The friend knew only the home’s general location, so Solebury police and EMS units were sent to the area. After 11 minutes police located the home and radioed the exact address to the dispatcher, who transposed the street and cross-street names, sending an ambulance one mile away to the wrong location. While officers performed CPR, the radio dispatcher realized the mistake after eight minutes and redirected the ambulance to the correct address. County officials said the involved dispatcher was suspended two days without pay and would be retrained. In March, nine dispatchers were disciplined and the center’s director retired early after another woman died when her 911 call reporting that her bed was on fire was put on hold.