The City of Brotherly Love certainly lived up to its name as a bus driver in Philadelphia was told by her dispatcher to keep on making stops, in spite of the man dying on her bus.

Around 4 a.m. Sunday morning, the driver noticed that an elderly passenger was unresponsive and appeared to have urinated in his trousers. She contacted the SEPTA control center who told her to keep making stops and not to delay service.

A few stops later, a supervisor hopped on board the bus to check the passenger and determined he was breathing. According to transcripts of the driver’s radio conversation, she was ordered to keep driving the route to the terminal, where police would take him off her hands.

Unfortunately, by the time she reached the terminal, the 68-year-old had gone from breathing to not-breathing.

“It just boggles me that I was riding around and he was deceased and other passengers were getting on,” said the bus driver. “Could I have done anything to save him?”

SEPTA defends their decision thusly: “There was no indication whatsoever of a medical emergency… What it appeared to be was an intoxicated person who had passed out.”

Transport Workers Union Local 234 said it plans to file a grievance.

What do you think the driver should have done? Should she have risked her job or did she do the proper thing by listening to her superiors?

Dying man gets no help on SEPTA [Metro via NBC Philadelphia]

Thanks to Pete for the tip!

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