Woman dies after care home allegedly refused to share defibrillator

A mother died after a care home refused to give her daughter a defibrillator because it was not for “public use”, it has been claimed.

Courtney Scotto D’abusco, 23, was asleep at home when her mother, Lian, 43, woke her at around 4am with chest pains and collapsed seconds later into cardiac arrest.

Ms D’abusco dialled 999 in St Mellons, Cardiff, and was told by operators to use the Automated External Defibrillator at Willowbrook House care home while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

But she said staff at the home told her the machine was not available for the public.

Her mother suffered brain damage as a result of the cardiac arrest and died of pneumonia seven weeks later on June 11.

Ms D’abusco said she left her phone with her father while she travelled to the care home, a two-minute drive away, to collect the defibrillator.

“I jumped out of my car and was knocking and knocking. I was approached by this one woman,” she said.

“I was really startled and I was like: ‘Can I have the defib? The ambulance want me to come and get it. My mum’s not breathing’.”

Ms D’abusco said the staff member returned with two colleagues who told her they could not give it out for public use.

“I couldn’t even call anybody because I gave my phone to my dad,” she said, adding that she tried for “a good 10 minutes” to convince the staff.

She added: “They left me standing outside. I had my pyjamas on and my dressing gown. I was literally crying and in a panic. I was just so shocked.”

Willowbrook House declined to comment.

Doctors told the family that Mrs D’abusco had a “shockable heart rhythm” – meaning she needed a defibrillator as soon as possible when she collapsed.

There is currently no legal requirement for life-saving defibrillators to be installed in public places, and no clear rule for those already installed to be given to the public.

However, the Resuscitation Council UK advises that AEDs situated in the community are registered on the Circuit, a national defibrillator logging network that is accessed by ambulance services to locate the nearest device in emergencies.

MPs are currently pushing for a law change to make it mandatory for public places such as education and sports facilities to have defibrillators.