A new dad died after a delayed ambulance forced his partner to drive him to hospital in vain in the minutes before his death.
Danny Vasiljevic called triple-0 after suffering chest pains and trouble breathing, but an ambulance did not arrive for 22 minutes.
Mr Vasiljevic‘s partner Katrina Christou then had to drive her husband to the hospital herself after waiting 15 minutes with their 10-month-old baby in the back.
He fell unconscious and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Ambulance Victoria has now launched a review.
Ms Christou told the ABC she wanted to know “exactly how the system failed him, why he was left completely alone in his hour of need”.
“Danny spent his last moments scared and unassisted,” she said.
The 22 minutes Mr Vasiljevic spent waiting for an ambulance was seven minutes longer than the critical response target for code 1 incidents such as this.
Ambulance Victoria spokesperson Anthony Carlyon apologised for the incident, adding that the service was “particularly busy” when Mr Vasiljevic called.
“I can‘t imagine what that experience is like but we’re very, very sorry that they’ve had that experience,” he told the ABC.
“Certainly when it comes to significant issues such as chest pain, cardiac arrest, stroke, there is no time that‘s quick enough,” Mr Carlyon said.