Paramedics incident in Oslo 2007

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The paramedics incident in Oslo2007 involved two paramedics who were dispatched to Sofienberg park in Oslo, Norway, on August 6, 2007, in response to a reported head injury from an altercation. Upon arrival, paramedics determined the issue was not medically urgent, and requested police at the scene take the subject to the hospital as he appeared intoxicated and unruly. It was later revealed the man's injuries were indeed life-threatening, which led to public outcry and controversy in the months following the incident. [1] [2]

Contents

Incident

While having a picnic in the park, a Somali-Norwegian man named Ali Farah claims he was physically assaulted and hit in the head by a 23-year-old male from Ghana. [1] [3] Farah was knocked to the ground after requesting the 23-year-old male and his friends to tone down their behavior. After the altercation, Farah's friends called for an ambulance, which arrived on the scene approximately 15 minutes later. The ambulance paramedic crew decided not to take Farah to the hospital as he seemed to be intoxicated. Farah reportedly urinated, with the urine hitting first the trouser leg of one of the paramedics and then the ambulance. [2] The paramedics requested a police patrol present at the scene take Farah to the hospital. The ambulance left shortly thereafter, leaving Farah in the park. He was then transported in a taxi by his friends to a medical center where it was determined the injury to his head was life-threatening. He was diagnosed with intracranial hemorrhage and had to undergo surgery, after which he also developed meningitis. He was placed in a medically-induced coma for a few days and eventually recovered.

When the story first broke in the Norwegian media, the decision by the paramedics to leave Farah in the park led to a massive public outcry, and accusations of blatant racism were directed toward the paramedics by several politicians and leading figures, including Beate Gangås, the Norwegian Equality and Anti-Discrimination ombud.

The paramedics involved maintained their initial observation of the victim led them to believe he was not in need of urgent medical assistance, and they made the decision to have police escort him to the hospital after he urinated on one of the paramedics and the ambulance. Farah and his friends claimed the ambulance crew were hostile toward them, and that the paramedics did not perform a proper medical examination of the victim. [4]

The paramedics were eventually removed from active duty due to their handling of the case, and fined for failing to give proper duty of care to Farah. Several subsequent inquiries and a court found the paramedics' actions, while "indefensible" and "unprofessional", could not be shown to be an act of racial discrimination. [5] [6]

Media coverage of the event

The case was widely covered in Norwegian media, creating a heated national debate about the incident. Many media articles focused on the failure of the paramedics to properly deal with the victim and portrayed this incident as one of racial discrimination. The photograph media used to strengthen this claim showed an injured victim lying on the ground bleeding heavily from the nose. This picture contradicted the paramedic's claim that Farah was standing up when they left the scene. [7] Later, a picture was published in the media that supported the paramedics' version in which Farah can be seen standing next to the ambulance as it is leaving the park. [8]

Libel suit

In May 2011 Erik Schjenken won a libel suit against the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet in the Oslo District Court, and was awarded one million Nkr on the grounds they had misrepresented facts and published factual errors regarding the case. [9] In 2013, Dagbladet lost the appeal case in Borgarting Court of Appeal, but received a different ruling reducing the compensation awarded to Schjenken to 200,000 Nkr. [10] Dagbladet appealed the case once more in May 2013 to the Supreme Court of Norway. [11]

Timeline

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References

  1. 1 2 Jørgen Berge (28 March 2009). "Ali-tiltalt: – Jeg ble redd". TV2 Norway. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Forlatt fordi han urinerte - Aftenposten". www.aftenposten.no. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  3. ↑ Farah påvirket av hasj
  4. ↑ "Anmelder ambulansesjåførene". Dagbladet.no. 16 February 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  5. ↑ "Schjenken handlet ikke rasistisk". Aftenposten.no. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  6. ↑ Gudrun Holgersen, Lena R. Bendiksen, Sissel Markhus, Hege Skjeie, Jan Tøssebro (26. februar 2009). Sak 31/2008, vedtak. Likestillings- og diskrimineringsnemnda. Archived from the original Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine 10. juni 2011.
  7. ↑ "Årets bilde til KK-journalist". KK.no. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "Burde gjort mer for å frem den "andre siden"". Aftenposten.no. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  9. ↑ Bruaset, Ingvild. "Dagbladet vurderer å anke Schjenken-dom". Aftenposten (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  10. 1 2 Ingvild Bruaset (23 April 2013): Dagbladet vurderer å anke Schjenken-dom (in Norwegian) Aftenposten, Retrieved 1 June 2013
  11. ↑ Tommy H. Brakstad (24 May 2013): Dagbladet anker Schjenken-dommen Archived 3 July 2013 at archive.today (in Norwegian) NA24.no, Retrieved 1 June 2013
  12. 1 2 "Ambulansesjåførene kan miste autorisasjonen". Dagbladet.no. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  13. ↑ Sandra Mei Ling Noer (27 March 2008). "Ali Farah ble diskriminert". Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  14. ↑ https://www.webcitation.org/5bUBJdBBE?url=http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article1994759.ece
  15. ↑ "Schjenken klaget 6.desember 2008 tre statsråder og partileder Dagfinn Høybråten inn for sivilombudsmannen som nå har saken til behandling." from Aftenposten/Kultur, 2011-06-01, page 6
  16. 1 2 https://www.webcitation.org/5fCkP9YCa?url=http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article2968920.ece
  17. ↑ "Overeksponert: Erik Schjenken - Overeksponert - NRK Nett-TV". www.nrk.no. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011.
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