The Silent Emergency Call--Mark Hemmings' Lonely End and the Blind Spot in the Algorithm (March-April 2013)

The Silent Emergency Call--Mark Hemmings' Lonely End and the Blind Spot in the Algorithm (March-April 2013)

Mire area, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, central England, on March 29, 2013, Mark Hemmings, 41, a schizophrenia sufferer, suffered severe abdominal pain and called emergency number 999 for help. However, the operator of NHS Direct (the non-emergency medical advice service at the time) who received the call deemed it "non-urgent" based on his symptoms entered into the computer, and no ambulance was dispatched.

This decision involved the "triage assistance algorithm" that the NHS had introduced. The call handlers followed the manual and reviewed the options displayed on the screen in order. This system, which quantified the patient's complaints and reduced them to numbers and options, was effective for standard cases, but did not accurately pick up the severity of symptoms in cases with co-occurring mental illnesses, such as Mark's.

Later, when the doctor called, he complained that he was in pain to the point of losing consciousness, only to be told to "come to the clinic." Without a car, he was unable to travel and did not show up at the clinic. He did not have a car, was unable to travel, and did not show up at the clinic. The records showed only "no visit" and no follow-up.

On April 1, a care worker found him in critical condition at his home and called an ambulance, but he died at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, where he was taken. The cause of death was obstruction of the pancreatic duct by gallstones.

This case showed how powerless the medical system is against human "anomalies" and "aberrations. Mark's pain and life slipped through the web of standardized algorithms. AI and triage support systems being introduced into the medical field will continue to increase, but when their decisions are considered the only "right" answer, isolated individuals risk being cut off as the "exception.

In the arena of human life, algorithms can help or dismiss. This case poses a serious and quiet question for our time, when we are wavering between medical efficiency and humanity.