‘He’s gonna die.’ Dispatcher refuses help to man dying of a stroke, Ohio city says

An emergency dispatcher refused to send medical help to a man suffering a stroke, and he was found dead the next day in Ohio, media outlets report.

A neighbor called 911 in January because he believed the man was having a stroke in a Cincinnati apartment complex, according to an emailed memo City Manager Patrick Duhaney sent to City Council members, WKRC reported.

The caller almost immediately told the dispatcher the man’s location, WKRC said.

During the nearly eight-minute conversation, the caller told the dispatcher that the man’s condition was dire, WCPO reported.

“He has a stroke and has another one coming. He’s gonna die,” the caller said, according to WCPO, at other times saying, “He’s gonna die” and “He is getting worse and worse.”

However, when the dispatcher instructed the caller to ask the man questions, he responded that his neighbor may not want to answer or receive help, WCPO reported.

The dispatcher said emergency responders won’t help the man without consent, City Beat reported.

“If he doesn’t want help, they won’t do anything,” the dispatcher said, City Beat reported the memo saying. “He has to want to be helped.”

The neighbor hung up, and no police or EMS were sent to check on the man, Duhaney wrote in the memo, according to WVXU.

A person called the next day to ask the city to remove the man’s body since it “wouldn’t come and help yesterday,” WVXU reported.

In the memo, Duhaney called it a “serious neglect of duty,” WVXU reported.

“What took place on the night of January 12 is nothing short of a tragedy,” Duhaney wrote, according to WVXU. “It’s unclear if the individual would have lived or died, but the actions of this call-taker undermined the possibility of a positive outcome in this situation.”

The dispatcher is suspended without pay during while discipline is determined, WKRC reported.