CBC: Windsor (Ont) ambulance carrying critical heart patient held up by US Customs

[Bozita]

Flashers and siren going full blast.

Patient's heart had stopped and been restarted twice. He needed immediate angioplasty.

A computer selected the ambulance for random inspection.

Good thing the patient was semi-conscious. US border folks wanted him to verify his Canadianism.

Ottawa's pissed, especially after that incident with a fire truck last week. Protest will be sent to Washington.

Story is on tonight's "The National." It begins roughly eight minutes into the newscast.
http://www.cbc.ca/national/latestbroadcast.html

[silverweb]

1. Well.. ya never know.

The "patient" could have been faking and might have had a bomb or contraband hidden under his covers!

:sarcasm:


Bunch of fucking morons. Random computer selection can't be adjusted to handle emergencies? Gotta do what the computer says and never THINK?

What a way to stay tight with your friends and neighbors!

:banghead:

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Al Qaeda Might Have Filled His Coronary Artery With Plastic Explosives!!

An IED - Intra-arterial Explosive Device.

Damned Canadians. Fellow I work with told me today that some of them speak French. French!

[RC]

3. French?!! French you say? Instead of blowing up frogs, they eat them!

Of all the horror...

That ambulance was pre-cleared and on an emergency run. And they let a computer on a random say-so stop it? Where has our common sense gone to? An ambulance with siren and lights going is no way to quietly slip into or out of a country. What has happened to the worlds longest unfortified border? It will take generations to clean up the mess the criminals in this administration has made of things.

[marmar]

4. Here's a text version of the story:

Ambulance carrying heart-attack patient delayed at U.S. border
Incident was 10th border delay in 2 years involving patients from Windsor to Detroit
Last Updated: Monday, November 19, 2007 | 3:37 PM ET

CBC News

Federal and provincial officials are calling for a review of border procedures after an ambulance rushing an Ontario heart attack patient to a U.S. hospital was held up at the border.

It was the 10th border delay in two years involving patients being transferred from Windsor, Ont., to Detroit, according to the CBC's Susan Pedler.

In the latest incident, Rick Laporte was en route from Windsor to a Detroit hospital for an emergency angioplasty on Friday when U.S. customs officials flagged the vehicle for a secondary inspection despite having a police escort and a pre-clearance arrangement.

Pedler reported that, under a deal hammered out in 2005, Windsor is the only border point between Canada and the U.S. that allows patients to be pre-cleared with a fax ahead of border crossings for medical emergencies.

Such an arrangement was made in Laporte's case. But U.S. officials still have the right to pull over anyone for secondary inspections including ambulances that have been pre-cleared, Pedler said.

The man driving the ambulance was asked to show his documents to the guard and then Laporte was asked to verbally identify himself.

Laporte, 46, had already been revived twice, according to media reports. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/11/19/windsor-hospital.html

[Bozita]

6. and the video's on the right

Use the link in the post above.

Good find, marmar!

[madrchsod]

5. i feel so safe

[Bozita]

7. kick for the afternoon shift

[mmonk]

8. Go back to sleep America.

Fascism will keep you safe.