Minn. woman dies when ambulance oxygen goes out

RED WING, Minn. (AP) — The city of Red Wing is investigating after a 64-year-old woman died during an ambulance trip.

Janice Hall was being moved from a nursing home in Red Wing to one in Minneapolis on April 22. Hall was ventilator-dependent, according to the medical examiner, and the ambulance's onboard oxygen system spontaneously shut down during the trip.

Red Wing Fire Chief Tom Schneider says a paramedic discovered the outage and restarted the system. But Hall had died.

The ambulance's electronic components were replaced, but the same problem happened a month later. In that case the patient was not hurt.

Road Rescue of Marion, S.C., which built the ambulance, says it's the only reported incident. The company says it's testing a field remedy for all ambulances that use that system.

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