Brodie Cambourne sues St John Ambulance for negligence. Money grabbing or legitimate?
A couple of days ago news broke of Queensland woman, Brodie Cambourne suing St. John Ambulance paramedics for unlawful assault. She claims ” to have dislocated her shoulder during one of the events and alleges the St John Ambulance volunteers who tried to help made the injury worse.”
The basic argument is that whilst The Good Samaritan Law protects “those who have completed basic first aid training and are certified by health organizations, such as St. John Ambulance, provided that they have acted within the scope of their training.” Whilst it is very brief, the guidelines posted on St. John Ambulance’s website suggest that when it comes to fractures and possible dislocations, the immobilisation of the affected area is required and then to call 000 for an ambulance to attend.
Cambourne is claiming permanent damage to her shoulder. Wowsers! Maybe she should go after whoever gave her permanent damage to her face.
This I presume is probably at the heart of the matter, I mean despite the apparent heartlessness of suing volunteers, if St John Ambulance does not train it’s staff in treating dislocated shoulders, what are they doing running around popping them back in for people?
About.com suggests that “It is possible to treat a shoulder dislocation at the scene of the injury, but if transportation to a hospital is available, then this is a much safer option. If trained personnel are not available, or if there are signs of unusual circumstances, reduction of the shoulder dislocation is best done in trained hands at a hospital.”
So it would seem that what should have happened was that after stabilising her and immobilising the shoulder, the St John Ambulance crew should have called for an ambulance and the dislocation treated at a hospital. I’m not suggesting that anybody intentionally meant to hurt Cambourne, but there definately seems to have overstepping on behalf of the volunteers in this particular case.
Does that warrant a lawsuit?
The incident itself happened back in February 2006, exactly three years ago. So why has she filed now? The Limitation of Actions Act states that “an action for damages in respect of personal injuries must not be brought after the expiration of 3 years from the date on which the cause of action accrued”. So, with time fast running out given we’re in February 2009, a literal last minute law suit has been filed.
Not knowing much about shoulder dislocations I had some reading to do and when competition was involved, the general consensus seemed to be “return to full participation should be avoided until you are symptom free and can perform all skills and other requirements of your sport without pain.”
Imagine my suprise when I read that Cambourne was still competing, she came fifth in swimming and eigth in skiing back in November last year. Now i’m not a doctor but I’d think it pretty reasonable that someone who claims “to have suffered permanent shoulder damage, ongoing pain and discomfort, a loss of motion and nervous shock” simply wouldn’t be able to swim and ski on a competitive level. I mean we’re talking about swimming right, I imagine it’s pretty hard to swim without using your shoulders.
These days it's not just lawyers who chase ambulances
12 weeks to recover? So here we are at 156 weeks after the incident filing a last minute lawsuit to preserve the right of a patient to go after money, just in case. Sure starting to sound like a money grab to me. To be fair Cambourne has had a few operations after the indicent, but I can’t help but wonder what exactly the timeframe is for Cambourne’s condition to stabilise. One would think if she had suspicions of medical negligence a law suit would have been filed months, if not years ago well before the three year compensation deadline rathe then a few days short of it.
Either way I hope St John Ambulance and other organisations have had a review of their policies since the incident and highlighted the importance of staff to act within their training at events so lawsuits like this don’t happen. The last thing we need is to lose the valuable contribution charities like this make to Australia.
April 26th, 2009 at 3:02 am John(Quote)
First of all, St John’s Ambulance is not a charity but a profit organisation run by the Knight of Saint John. Volunteer ambulance drivers and “paramedics” are set up and trained by St Johns essentially to bring in profits. All material used by Volunteers are bought using fund raised dollars from St Johns. Ambulances for instance are sold to volunteer groups from St John’s. The ambulances are usually decommissioned vehicles originally purchased on donations to St Johns.
Most volunteer St Johns paramedics have a basic two week course compared to professional paramedics which have a diploma or degree qualification.
Coverage by St Johns is also questionable. At least you get an Ambulance arriving at the scene of an accident in Queensland. In WA bit of a different story. St Johns has the monopoly on emergency paramedical care but is run predominately as a taxi service ferrying people to and from hospital. Dispatch of ambulances is predominately run on a cost basis. For example if St Johns gets a call from a nursing home to transfer a patient to a hospital with a non-life threatening condition which is closer than a major accident it will be routed to the easier job so it can be reassigned quicker and charge a higher rate.
If you are thinking of moving to WA and might need ambulance cover, think about alternate means of transport.
April 26th, 2009 at 10:39 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Hi there John, thanks for taking the time to reply.
I think you’ll find the ambulance division of St. Johns in Australia is in fact run as a charity organisation and is seperate from the Venerable Order of St. John.
I think here in Victoria they are mostly used at events whilst the hospital ambulances cover emergency call outs. It seems strange that in WA, 000 would link up to St. Johns rather then a hospital service given as you said St. Johns volunteers are only given two weeks training?
June 10th, 2009 at 4:50 pm "000"(Quote)
In WA St John Ambulance (SJA) is contracted to run the primary 000 emergency ambulance service. In the metro areas, these ambulances are staffed by fully trained (ie university qualification), professional Paramedics – Out in the country they are staffed by either a Paramedic and a volunteer from the local community, or just volunteers.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:54 pm "000"(Quote)
John – “St Johns has the monopoly on emergency paramedical care but is run predominately as a taxi service ferrying people to and from hospital. Dispatch of ambulances is predominately run on a cost basis. For example if St Johns gets a call from a nursing home to transfer a patient to a hospital with a non-life threatening condition which is closer than a major accident it will be routed to the easier job so it can be reassigned quicker and charge a higher rate.”
I really don’t think so mate – there is no way we would be diverted from a P1 emergency to take granny for a scan – the opposite is true, we often get diverted from doing a low priority transfer to respond to a “major accident”
June 21st, 2009 at 3:42 pm Bobbrown(Quote)
Firstly to point out to everyone (sorry to seem ‘technical’), but St. John Ambulance does not have an ‘s’ after it.
John: “First of all, St John’s Ambulance is not a charity but a profit organisation run by the Knight of Saint John.”
Firstly, there is no “Knight of Saint John” running St. John Ambulance anywhere in the world. SJA is (officially) run by the Grand Prior, who, at the moment, is HRH Prince Richard (Duke of Gloucester). In Australia, the day-to-day running of SJA in each state/territory is headed by a Commissioner, who does not take orders from anybody within the Order.
“All material used by Volunteers are bought using fund raised dollars from St Johns. Ambulances for instance are sold to volunteer groups from St John’s. The ambulances are usually decommissioned vehicles originally purchased on donations to St Johns.”
All St. John ambulances, at least in Victoria as far as I know, are all ex-vehicles from Ambulance Victoria, and re-commissioned as St. John vehicles. St. John does not make a profit, as it is a non-profit organisation, and relies on donations.
If you’re going to make such accusations, please consider what you do for the community. Perhaps you should volunteer with St. John, so that you can ‘fix’ the ‘problems’ that you have identified, or send a letter of complaint.
Please get your facts straight before making such accusations.
July 30th, 2009 at 9:30 pm Kelly(Quote)
FACT:In recent years the ambulances/first aid vehicles used by St John in Victoria have purchased new, they no longer purchase decomissioned vehicles from other organisations.
St John Volunteers undertake an annual skills program and gives volunteers more than two weeks worth of traning. They also have access to further training to continually ugrade their skills.
It has also recently come to light that St John in fact did not treat this young woman and were never at this event.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm disgusted(Quote)
i just found this thread of discussion and am in a legal battle with Brodie cambourne for some terrrible things she has done to me and my husband through her kidfit business.
I am disgusted by what she has done suing volunteers given that her business ethics are so out of whack. I hope this case falls over and she learns a lesson.
February 28th, 2010 at 12:24 pm ?(Quote)
Hello all.
I am a volunteer member of St John Ambulance Australia (VIC) in the S/E region. Please allow me to state these facts:
- St John is a VOLUNTEER organisation/first aid service in all states except for WA & NT. They attend local events such as carnivals sports days, alf matches, the australian open etc
- The volunteers within St John are not paid in any way. Matter of fact it is in the cards now that they may even start charging its CADETS & JUNIORS for volunteering.
- In the past they have used retired MAS & RAV vehicles like GMC’s, ford F350′s, station wagons etc (even my own division has 2 retired GMC vehicles from the MAS & RAV) but in the past few years have begun to buy their own brand new vehicles. The se include Mercedes Benz Sprinter Ambulances & Mercedes Benz Vito First Aid vans.
- St John divisions are comprised of Juniors, Cadets, Senior Cadets, Adults/Privates and officers. Most divisions still have the old vehicles and usaually have 1 or two vehicles.
- It is hioped that within the next few years most vehicles will have been replaced with the sprinters and vitos.
- St John does charge for its services at community events etc but this charge is minimal, worth it and goes to first aid supplies, training, first aid courses, HQ and to fuel for our ambulances.
- All members have a senior first aid certificate and meet regularly – once a week for further training. NB: St John is more advanced and better than any other first aid organization because they have some of the most advanced equipment.
- I have seen the new vehicles and they are very similar to the normal ambulance’s vehicles but have the st john ‘colours’ (green and white with the red logo). I urge everyone to have a peak at these new vehicles located on forster road, mt waverley, vic – ST JOHN MELBOURNE HQ.
Also to add, St John vehicles are equipped with a SAED (semi-automated eternal defibrillator), vehicle oxygen/O2 supplies as well as an O2 bag, ferno stretcher, first aid supplies, fold-up wheelchair, BP cuffs/blood pressure cuffs, vehicle and portable radios and much much more.
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:01 pm notnice(Quote)
i think you may be defaming her business there be careful, I looked up linked in and saw that another lady had her name down as the owner of that business.
you should also be aware that this case never went ahead and that no case was ever launched. you should all check your facts. this was a case that never enter the system. you all attacked someone with no facts and this person has had her face plastered all over the place when none of this actually happened
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:29 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Whether the case was cancelled or not doesn’t change the fact that legal action was announced at the time of writing.
Readers are welcome to update any article that apears on OzSoapbox via the comments system but let’s not rewrite history.
Cambourne is the registered owner of http://kidfit.com.au and the ACN used for the website returns ‘Australian Private Company’.
Additionally she’s also credited with developing Kidfit and the Kidfit courses on their website. Cambourne also registered ‘Kidfit Seminars’ as a business back in 2006 but cancelled it shortly thereafter.
Not sure what details you looked at but clearly Cambourne owns or co-owns the business.
As for defamation, it’s not defamation if it happened and that’s between the author of the comment and Cambourne.