Paramedic sat on child’s swing next to dead body to ‘fill out paperwork’, tribunal told

A paramedic played on a child’s swing next to the body of a man suspected of taking his own life so that he could “fill out paperwork”, a tribunal heard. 

Michal Szczytynski was training with the East of England Ambulance Service when he was called to the scene at a children’s play park on 10 August 2017.

Szczytynski cut down the dead person from the set of swings but carried on using one himself as a shocked colleague and police officer looked on, the Health Care and Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) was told.

The Polish national was given a 12-month suspension after the panel heard that he consistently failed to show empathy towards his patients.

The tribunal heard that Szczytynski had dropped a patient with hip problems down a flight of stairs, smoked while on duty and made racial comments about disabled people and “gypsies” on social media.

Szczytynski also hit the wing mirror of a car while driving an ambulance, drove the wrong way round a roundabout and slept in the front seat of the ambulance in public view, the panel was told.

Describing Szczytynski’s behaviour on the swing beside a dead man, Tristan Ravenscroft, from the East of England Ambulance Service, said: “The body was placed on the floor in front of the other swing. The police officer informed me he had been swinging.

“Other staff were doing the medical record. He had been on the swing, not involved in the clinical paperwork. The role he was playing wasn’t immediately apparent.

“There were benches around where the crew members were working. There was no reason for him to have stayed in that small confine next to the body. It wasn’t clear to me what he was doing.

“He was acknowledging he shouldn’t have been sat on the swing next to the body, he should have cleared the scene.”

When confronted over the incident, Szczytynski allegedly responded by saying that he needed somewhere to fill out his paperwork.

Finding Szczytynski guilty of misconduct, the panel said: “The aggravating features are the seriousness of the misconduct found proved, having regard to the safety of service users and the offensive and discriminatory nature of the Facebook post.

“The panel has concluded that the registrant has breached a fundamental tenet of the profession.”

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