Two weeks ago, US customs held up a fire truck, and a hotel burned to the ground. How do you top that? Delay an ambulance with a heart-attack victim.
The incident happened last Monday, when 46-year-old Rick Laport needed emergency angioplasty — a procedure that couldn’t be performed at his Windsor, Ont., hospital.
Medical officials rushed Laport to the border, expecting to be waved through so they could take him to Detroit’s Henry Ford medical facility
Instead, U.S. customs asked the male driver to exit the vehicle and show his identification card. Another border official opened the back of the ambulance to confirm a patient was inside, and asked Laporte to verify his name.
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The ambulance workers were only delayed by five minutes, but Laport’s heart had already been re-started twice by paramedics.