911 Error Leads To Ga. Woman's Death

Dispatcher Sent Ambulance To Wrong Address Causing 25-Minute Delay

(CBS/ AP)  Fulton County officials say a woman died while waiting for help that was delayed because a 911 operator sent emergency responders to the wrong address.

Fulton County's 911 director, Alfred Moore, says it began Saturday afternoon when Darlene Dukes called 911 for help because she was "in respiratory distress."

Moore says the 911 operator misheard the address Dukes gave and sent crews to Wells Street in Atlanta when Dukes was actually at home on Wales Street in Johns Creek, north of Atlanta.

"My child would be alive today if they had responded timely," Darlene Dukes' mother, Ida, told CBS affiliate WGCL-TV.

Moore says the operator should have noticed that the call was coming from a cell tower in north Fulton County, not Atlanta.

The mistake caused a 25-minute delay in response.

Moore says the 911 operator has been fired.

[Gary Kempf]

911 Error Leads To Ga. Woman''s Death

Why didn''t the address show up on the computor????
Seems the system failed as well....

[pirmin3]

Probably a minimum wage burger flipper on the phone.

[shirl214]

If she was calling from a cell phone, while its true, it will show what tower it was calling from, it will not show up an address. That''s one reason why its always best to use a land line. I don''t know if this woman had one or could not get to it but I can understand why the operator might have misunderstood the address. By NO means am I defending her BUT it could have happened that way. I live in Georgia but this could have happened anywhere. Prays go out to the family.

[griking]

Maybe it wasn''t the operator''s fault. Some people have thick accents and when there''s an emergency and panicked they could have been even less clear. The operator shouldn''t have been fired, I''m sure she didn''t do this on purpose.

[lilvinnyb]

i would have easilt spelled it as well also

[barbaraf4]

I thought the address came up with number - like caller id on their screens. It it doesn''t, then it should. How else do these 2 year olds you read about save their moms by dialing 911. I doubt if they know their address.

[barbaraf4]

Probably a minimum wage burger flipper on the phone. Posted by pirmin3
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her next job will be with TSA.

[magoo2u1]

"I thought the address came up with number - like caller id on their screens. It it doesn''''t, then it should. How else do these 2 year olds you read about save their moms by dialing 911. I doubt if they know their address. "

Don''t start throwing common sense and logic at the American public. All you have to do here is dial 911 and they can send help even if you can''t speak. But here in America someone has to be scapegoated in every event that takes place.

[nothappyatall]

"Moore says the 911 operator has been fired."

Oh NICE, so the system fails, a cell phone doesnt show an ADDRESS, the operator makes a MISTAKE and gets fired, typical business- blame the employee instead of TRAINING and fixing the system.

[pirmin3]

Probably a minimum wage burger flipper on the phone. Posted by pirmin3
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her next job will be with TSA.
Posted by barbaraf4

She''s probably over qualified for a TSA position ;-)

[gramto7]

Wells Street and Wales Street would be very easy to misunderstand. I wouldn''t expect a dispatcher to know every street in the Atlanta metro area. That would be a Herculean feat. Perhaps in metro areas they should be trained to ask for the zip code as well.

[luvny-2009]

Very sad but you know what, people in the US have different accents and words sound so different depending on where you live. The caller may have had a heavy southern accent that was hard to understand. Wales and Wells could easily sound alike in the South. They drag letters, omit letters, I know I married one. Still very sad

[neenga]

" would have easilt spelled it as well also "

Huh?

[neenga]

Now wait a minute. Why are you all so sure this operator was a woman? Do you see any indication of gender in the article?

[displeased]

They drag letters, omit letters, I know I married one. Posted by luvNY

You married a letter?

[e7eryday]

Now wait a minute. Why are you all so sure this operator was a woman? Do you see any indication of gender in the article?
Posted by neenga
-----

Easy- a man wouldn''t have lost his job over a spelling error. He would have an awesome excuse like "the wife kept waking me when she crept out of bed to tend to the baby and I was just exhausted".

[msay3]

I thought the address came up with number - like caller id on their screens. It it doesn''''''''t, then it should. How else do these 2 year olds you read about save their moms by dialing 911. I doubt if they know their address. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is exactly what happens....My daughter is a 911 dispatcher for a neighboring community.

[papabc]

Most likely there is a lot of blame to go around. The 911, Operator, Person Calling, Emergancy responders.

6 months ago emergency people showed up at our door looking for a 70+ year old man in medical trouble. Some how the address information was wrong on the display. Maybe the person making the original call gave a cross street address instead of the real address.

Prank Call?

Never found out if the read address was ever found.

[broncfan1661]

This person probably got her job through affirmative action where they have to fill quota and not worry about getting the best person.
Posted by GOP_forever at 10:13 AM
_______________________________________
As callous as it sounds, I have to somewhat agree with you. The 911 operator may not have pronounced the street name correctly when relaying it to the EMTs.

[observer2020]

People, just ignore GOP''s comments. Either it is totally against women or shoving a bible in everyone''s faces...both subjects this person has not a clue about. OR...they just like to start fires on these blogs--either way, it''s not worth the time. They haven''t experienced enough of "life''s experiences" to be an expert anything with such a closed mind.

The story is very sad...Wales and Wells CAN be misunderstood down South. I asked someone today with a serious southern drawl (very good friend) to say both words and they did sound similar and she was calm. When you dial 911, you are NOT calm and not speaking clearly. This was a mistake--everyone makes them (just try not to make too many, that''s all). If the system does not work correctly, that makes it even harder for them to get you help.

[credibility2]

If this were a competent operator, they would''ve repeated the street and if any doubt, continue trying to get clarification or look at their monitor for some form of location identification. Big deal, the operator got fired. Is that going to bring back the dead woman?

[mandalay-bay]

Wow. One mistake and the operator gets canned? Kinda harsh...The street names sound similar especially with a southern accent over the phone where the connection might not have even been strong.

[ajaxrose1]

That''s just sad all the way around. It wasn''t the operator''s fault, but he or she is probably going to live the rest of their life thinking it is. I don''t think they should have fired the operator over it, though. The 911 system is run by human beings and they make mistakes. I realize this doesn''t help the family feel any better; who would? I''m just saying we''re all human and subject to messing up. I agree that with their accents and the similarity of the street names, it''s a mistake that anyone could have made. Anyone who is human, anyway.

[whiskyrokkr]

Mistakes happen. As many calls as these people take it''s amazing thier aren''t more mistakes.

[redbds]

If this call had been made from a landline, the 911 system would have displayed the proper address. Lesson is that if you use a cell phone to call 911 it will not register the address in the system. If faced with this situation use the land phone.

I don''t think that this 911 operator should have been fired.

[bobnjersey]

[Moore says the 911 operator misheard the address Dukes gave and sent crews to Wells Street in Atlanta when Dukes was actually at home on Wales Street in Johns Creek, north of Atlanta. ]

the 911 system should feed the source number, address, etc to the screen. they shouldn''t have to ask ... what if the person couldn''t communicated it clearly ... due to their emergency?

[jonhicks3]

Thought the 911 calls came in on a cell phone that does not mean that the operator could not direct the emergency people to the right address. Congress passed a law back a few years ago making it so that all cell phones have a GPS locator in them. If the 911 systems cannot track the phone by GPS then and only then should have the operator used the tower information. (We are talking about Atlanta, GA. Not in the middle of now where.) I know most E-911 system have this. As for the operator getting fired that is what need to happen. With all the technology we have getting an address wrong should never happen, but I know that computer are not all was right. This operator deals with life and death daily and because of that one mistake can lead to death.