An off-duty doctor may well have saved the lives of two teenagers suffering from stab wounds after he spotted a trail of blood on a shopping center floor and followed it to provide emergency medical assistance to the distressed victims.
The 29-year-old physician told reporters that he sensed a medical emergency was likely unfolding when he spotted a trail of bloody footprints on the floor of the mall.
The doctor, whose social media profile reveals a prior affiliation with the Watford General Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust in Hampstead, wanted to help.
Fatine followed the bloody trail to a crowd of shoppers gathered around four police officers. In their midst on the floor–two teenagers, bleeding profusely.
“Blood was everywhere,” said Fatine. “One of the boys was bleeding from his forearm, and the other from just above his right knee.
“I wasn’t too concerned about the arm injury, as he was sitting up and the wound was being dealt with.
“But the boy with the leg injury was still losing blood and he was becoming very pale and delirious.”
The bandages the officers had used to try and stop the bleeding weren’t stemming the flow, so Dr. Fatine used a belt from one of the boys and fastened it around his leg, above the deep wound.
It worked, and the boy stopped losing blood.
Dr. Fatine checked the victim for other wounds and stayed with the boys until an ambulance arrived.
The victims, both 17 years old, were transported to a hospital with non-life threatening wounds. He visited one of them in the hospital the following day.
Dr. Fatine told Metro, “I’m glad they’re doing well. But things could have gone wrong very quickly, and people need to be more aware of the consequences of their actions.”
One of the teens has since been charged with violent disorder, while the other remains in hospital under police arrest, the Metro reported.
Detective Inspector Jackie Dadd told Metro reporters that this was likely not a random incident.
“This was a really disturbing incident and it has obviously had an impact on those shopping at the time, however, we don’t believe this was random attack.”
“Such behavior is unacceptable and we are committed to bringing those responsible to justice,” he added.
There was praise for the actions of Dr. Fatine on social media. A woman self-identified as a National Health Service colleague of Dr. Fatine shared these words on Twitter.
Other supportive comments followed.
