FARMINGTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The Nova Scotia woman whose husband died after a skiing accident at Sugarloaf last week is telling a shocking story about the care he received from the ambulance who came to pick him up.
This weekend, Dana Morse told the Chronicle Herald of Nova Scotia that her experience was "a comedy of horrors."
Nobody answered the phone when we tried to contact Morse directly today, but in the Nova Scotia paper, she essentially accused Northstar Ambulance of being completely incompetent when it came to her husband's care.
Morse told the Chronicle Herald that when her husband, 41-year old David Morse, hit a tree while skiing at Sugarloaf -- the mountain's ski patrol was "excellent" -- getting him off the mountain quickly.
She says the trouble came when Northstar Ambulance arrived. She says paramedics did not do many of the things they should have -- and according to the paper, Morse should know. She has more than 20 years of nursing experience, including 10 years working in intensive care.
Dana Morse also tells the paper that when she asked the ambulance driver en route to Franklin Memorial Hospital if she could move from the front seat to the back to be with her husband -- the driver let her out -- and then drove away, leaving her on the side of the road.
She says when she finally did get to the hospital, none of the people there had even heard of her husband. She says her husband died in the ambulance and the driver simply turned around and took his body back to the clinic at Sugarloaf.
On Monday, Franklin Community Health Network -- which runs both the hospital and Northstar Ambulance put out a statement saying, in part: "Wwe have launched our own internal review of what happened in this very tragic situation. Until we conduct that review, it would be premature for us to respond to the allegations reported by the press."
The allegations are troubling and they've caught the attention of state regulators who oversee emergency medical personnel.
Tonight, the head of maine ems is cautioning that before we jump to any conclusions -- we need to hear both sides of the story.
"This is something we're very concerned about, as is the service chief, as is the hospital," said Maine EMS Director Jay Bradshaw. "There are some very concerning statements that were made and everybody wants to get the full understanding of what happened here."
Maine EMS, a division of the Maine Department of Public Safety, establishes the training, testing and protocols for emergency medical crews. It also investigates complaints against providers of ambulance services.
Bradshaw says the allegations are very much out of character for Northstar Ambulance, which he calls very experienced in remote sections of the state.