Human error to blame in child's death

ALBANY- Human error: that's the word coming from the task force set up after a child waited nearly half an hour for an ambulance to get to the scene of a bicycle accident.

The slow response 'outraged' the city's mayor.

It took Mohawk Ambulance close to 25 minutes to arrive on scene back in May.

The call --- a young boy on a bicycle going through a stop sign and crashing right into a moving car.

But as Albany firefighters and paramedics performed CPR on 11-year old Benjamin Cocco, those on scene could only wonder what was taking so long.

Now the task force report say it was human error, mainly a mistake by a Mohawk Ambulance dispatcher.

"If they recognized immediately they didn't have an ambulance, they could have told Albany they didn't have the resource. Albany could have called on its mutual aid partners," said Dr. Michael Dailey with the Albany Fire Department.

Instead, with its other rigs already in service, Mohawk gave the call to an ambulance that was in route from Troy.

Cocco eventually died from internal injuries

Doctor Dailey is the medical director with the Albany Fire Department and chaired the task force.

He says Mohawk responds to high priority calls in the city in eight minutes or less, ninety four percent of the time. That's above the national average.

But out of this tragic accident, a number of changes are being made.

First Mohawk is increasing staffing in Albany for its evening and overnight shifts.

Secondly it purchased two additional Albany fire department radios so those in the ambulances can speak with EMTs on scene.

Also, each ambulance will now be equipped with GPS navigational units.

And Mohawk invested in computer software which when a call comes in, can identify where the closest ambulance is, give directions and even estimate a response time.

"Benjamin's injuries were un-survivable. However, what it did was it left us in a position where we could examine the case and do everything we could so that something like this never happens again in the city of Albany," said Dr. Dailey.

Mohawk says following the incident the dispatcher was re-trained and counseled.

Members from the Albany Fire Department will continue to meet with Mohawk on a monthly basis to go over protocols and procedures.