GATINEAU, Que. (CP) - Six ambulance technicians have been suspended after refusing to transport the body of a man whose corpse lay in a home for at least 10 hours.
The technicians in this city near Ottawa said they were overwhelmed with work and could not pick up the body of a man in his 60s who died at his home on Monday night. Technicians asked for help from a neighbouring Ontario ambulance service, but were turned down on the grounds that Ontario law did not allow for the transportation of bodies.
Gatineau police also said they were not able to intervene.
Another Gatineau ambulance eventually picked up the body at around 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Andre Letourneau, spokesman for the technicians' union, said pressure tactics had nothing to do with the initial decision not to transport the body
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/03/30/402152-cp.html
The technicians in this city near Ottawa said they were overwhelmed with work and could not pick up the body of a man in his 60s who died at his home on Monday night. Technicians asked for help from a neighbouring Ontario ambulance service, but were turned down on the grounds that Ontario law did not allow for the transportation of bodies.
Gatineau police also said they were not able to intervene.
Another Gatineau ambulance eventually picked up the body at around 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Andre Letourneau, spokesman for the technicians' union, said pressure tactics had nothing to do with the initial decision not to transport the body
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/03/30/402152-cp.html