Doctors acted immediately

Crash after heart attack right in front of Böhler Hospital

The car came to a standstill at the stop sign in front of the hospital.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

The doctors reacted with lightning speed when they were startled by a bang while working in the outpatient department of the Böhler Hospital in Vienna on Wednesday: A woman who had suffered a heart attack at the wheel outside the hospital was treated immediately - even though the doctors had to break rules to do so.

The impact could be heard all the way to the Böhler Hospital ambulance: At full speed, a car driver had suffered a heart attack right in front of the hospital. The stop sign opposite the entrance to the hospital in Pasettistraße stopped the vehicle. The doctors didn't hesitate for a second and immediately ran out onto the road with a stretcher to treat the patient - even though they were ill-equipped to do so in the hospital, which was still partially closed.

Emergency care in a locked shock room
Like the bed wing and the operating theaters, the hospital's trauma room is still closed due to the risk of fire. However, the doctors ignored the order without batting an eyelid. Moments later, the systems in the shock room were up and running and the patient could be sufficiently stabilized there to be transported to a specialist clinic for further treatment.

Fortunately, no other people were injured in the accident.

(Bild: zVg)

Doctors forced to break the rules
It was not the first time that doctors had disregarded the official lockdown of the shock room for the benefit of patients, for example when a man staggered into the ambulance with an abdominal puncture shortly after the lockdown last April. Situations like this demonstrate how urgent it is for the hospital to find a sustainable solution, as the doctors only have one choice: either disregard the lockdown of the shock room or violate their professional oath. For them, however, this is not a choice: "Of course" the well-being of the patients is more important than the official order, the Böhlerians emphasize.

The demolition work on the parking garage has begun - with a worker in a yellow high-visibility vest right underneath falling building material.

(Bild: AUVA / Veronika Drda)

Demolition work for container hospital begins
At least an end to the Böhler doctors' dilemma is in sight: The day before the accident, demolition work began on the hospital's previous parking garage. A container hospital is to be built on this site by mid-2025, which will ensure complete accident care in Brigittenau until the planned new hospital is built. The fact that the construction company took a rather relaxed approach to employee protection regulations and (see picture above) a worker was standing calmly just below the crumbling wall, led to a joke circulating in the hospital that AUVA was apparently worried about a supply of accidents at work.

The demolition work should be completed around the turn of the year. The winner of the Europe-wide bidding process for the construction of the container hospital should also be known around then. At the same time, those areas of the old building that will continue to be used during the interim solution will be adapted to the fire safety regulations in the best possible way.