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Ambulance operator told dying woman: 'Everyone dies one day'

Naomi Musenga
Naomi Musenga
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By Catherine Hardy
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French woman was dead hours after her plea to emergency services was dismissed.

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A woman died in France after emergency services operators refused to take her plea for help seriously.

Naomi Musenga, a 22-year-old mother, called an ambulance in Strasbourg, complaining of pain in her abdomen at the end of last year, according to recordings given to her family and released last week. Some hours later, after finally managing to get help after calling another medical helpline, she was dead in hospital.

An autopsy showed she had suffered multiple organ failure.

"I'm suffering pain everywhere, I'm going to die," she told the ambulance controller.

"Sure you'll die one day, like everyone else," came the response. The operator has been suspended but the incident has also provoked debate over the pressure put on the emergency services.

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