"Judgemental attitude towards my brother"

I had to call an ambulance for my brother who suffers from chronic alcoholism. He has previously aspirated and almost lost his life four times due to this disease.  He has serious health issues relating to this as well, when I called for an ambulance my brother had thrown up some blood and was experiencing chest, stomach and back pains. We waited for an ambulance which took several hours. (I was expecting this as I know how busy they are) I had thought of trying to get him to the hospital myself but this was not an option for us. 

The ambulance arrived with three crew members. One asked what was going on, I went to give them a brief history and what was going on with my brother presently. The paramedic replied abruptly and I felt with a censorious tone, that they didn't know what else they could do in the community and that A&E was "rammed". This was before even checking my brother. I was surprised at this response and asked what else would they be doing with him? As per my understanding of the ambulance service they would listen to the problem do some checks and then decide if they are deemed unwell enough to go to hospital? The reply to me was that they were just being honest.

This attitude at this point was very defensive. I said that we have been here many times... before I could finish what I was saying he interrupted me and said they haven't been here before,  I continued that I meant myself and my brother. Then the paramedic continued to not let me speak, I asked could they please let me finish what I am saying, at this point they did what I can only describe as a huff, and stormed out of the house.

I turned to one of the other ambulance staff in shock. I strongly felt that as soon as this person entered the room, all they saw was an alcoholic and made a judgement on his healthcare based on that prejudice without even properly assessing him.

My brother already feels pretty worthless and hopeless without a healthcare professional behaving like that. The two other paramedics checked him over and although his stats seemed ok, they decided to take him to hospital due to the symptoms he was presenting.  We were in the ambulance for several hours but I fully understand how stretched the NHS is. While we were in the ambulance, my brother deteriorated bringing up several sick bowls of blood and had to be given anti sickness and morphine intravenously. These two other paramedics were outstanding in their care and compassion for not only my brother but for myself. It was an extremely distressing time. I saw the first paramedic a couple of times while we were waiting to be taken in, as they were driving the ambulance, but each time they ignored me. 

I found this behaviour not only very judgemental and unhelpful, but added stress to an already extremely worrying time. I also found out that this was their first job of the night as I was going to make allowances if it had been a particularly bad shift.

I feel this paramedic came into the house and within less than five minutes, before even assessing my brother, had made a judgement that determined their attitude towards my brother and myself. This attitude is also very dangerous as had I not been there to speak up, my brother may have sent them away and felt he was wasting their time.

I am very grateful I was there and for the two other ambulance staff that helped my brother as he deteriorated in the ambulance and thank god he was not at home. I understand (I do not think it is right) that people will have prejudices when it comes to addiction and that perhaps they feel it is their fault (alcohol addiction is medically proven disease, and anyone that thinks it is a choice has not went through a loved one suffering this). A healthcare professional should not display what this person did.

They made an already stressful situation worse. I would like to say that another of the staff apologised for their colleague's conduct, but the person concerned did not, even after seeing me. This behaviour is not acceptable and is also very damaging to a patient.