Epileptic patient left lying on cold supermarket floor for over an hour

It was a normal Monday afternoon for most staff at a local supermarket in Ladysmith last week (September 7) until a man collapsed. In the throws of an epileptic fit, he was assisted by some staff members, while others completely ignored the man.

According to shopper Ms Delanie Pillay, the man collapsed sometime before 1pm and paramedics only arrived at the scene just after 3pm.

“Two hours after the man collapsed, it didn’t appear as if the staff had any medical training whatsoever, as some of them started slapping the man in an attempt to help him regain consciousness,” said Ms Pillay.

“I kept asking staff if an ambulance had been called and they kept saying yes, but nothing was happening.

“I eventually found what appeared to be a manager and he called ER24. They dispatched paramedics, who arrived within 5 minutes,” explained the angry customer.

“I have a simple question for the national supermarket: ‘Why did it take so long?'”

A spokesperson for the supermarket responded as follows:

We have investigated this matter and according to the information we have, every effort was made by the store’s management to assist the customer as best they could, bearing in mind that they are not trained medical personnel, but retailers. Our stores do have first-aiders in their employ. Three different emergency services were contacted more than once during the period that a response was awaited until ER24 arrived and took the patient to hospital. The entire incident lasted approximately an hour.

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