Brian Hurton, 55, from East Kilbride, Scotland, died alone after calling 999 twice and being told to wait for a call back. Despite telling them he was having trouble breathing and fearing he would collapse, no ambulance was dispatched. When medical help was finally dispatched, more than three hours after his first call, it was too late. The man’s relatives are now demanding answers, saying he was left alone in his final moments despite his clear pleas for emergency help.
He called 999 twice but was told to wait
Brian Hutton spent his final moments doing exactly what he was told to do. On 18 November 2025, Brian Hutton called the Scottish Emergency Services at 17:55. He complained of difficulty breathing and said he felt like he was going to collapse. The phone operator told him the clinician would call him back. If things get worse, he’ll call again. The man suffered an aortic dissection, a tear in the body’s main artery that can be fatal within minutes if left untreated.Ten minutes later, things got worse and Brian called again. He told the operator he was “having trouble breathing.” He was again told someone would call him back.In a transcript of the call later obtained by the BBC, a call handler explained that the service was “very busy in the area at the moment”. Brian was told: “Bryan, we are very busy in the area at the moment so based on the information provided one of our clinicians will not initially call you back, rather than an ambulance response.”
Medical help was sent three hours later
After 1 hour and 12 minutes, Brian expected a call back soon, but the call went unanswered. Neither were the two phone calls after that. The ambulance was not dispatched until 21:12. The plane arrived at his home at 21:19, nearly three and a half hours after he first called for help. Paramedics arrived to find his front door ajar. Brian was found dead on the bathroom floor.
He died “begging for help”
Alison Duncan found out what had happened when Brian’s twins called to say Brian had died. She and her husband drove directly to the house while his body was still there. Allison told the BBC: “We couldn’t believe it when we found out Brian had made two phone calls and then they called him back and got no response and it took them a few more hours to send an ambulance to Brian’s home.”Alison later listened to recordings of those calls. She described the experience as harrowing. The family doesn’t understand why an ambulance wasn’t sent immediately. She also added that the call handler should have asked if anyone could go and be with Brian. His twin could be with him within seconds. She said she felt “very sad” and “traumatized” by her brother’s death. “In his final moments he was alone, struggling to breathe, begging for help, thinking he would get it.“
Even though it was no help, he said “thank you”
It wasn’t just the delays that shocked Allison the most; That’s how Brian reacted to his second rejection. After listening to the call, she found Brian breathing heavily, clearly in disbelief that no help was available. But he said thank you and then said goodbye. “He still said, ‘Okay, thanks. Bye.’ “I could see it in his face — he was scared,” she added.Even if Brian might not survive when paramedics got there, they could give him oxygen and pain relief to keep him comfortable, she said. When he dies, he will feel safe and not alone.
What the review found
The family urged an investigation and Healthcare Improvement Scotland also launched one. According to comments seen by BBC News Scotland, Brian’s first call should have been given a higher priority. The review said ambulance response could have been faster if the coding was correct. However, investigators were unable to determine whether this would have changed the results.The Scottish Ambulance Service has accepted the findings. “Due to the seriousness of this case, the Scottish Ambulance Service quickly carried out a comprehensive Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER) and we have remained in contact with the family throughout the process,” a spokesman said. “We know there is nothing we can do to change the outcome, but we hope our adoption of the review’s recommendations demonstrates our commitment to learning and improvement.“Scottish Health Minister Angela Constance also said: “This should not have happened. It is clear that there was a glitch in the handling of the call.”
