Questions about whether an ambulance containing a fatally wounded teenager should have driven straight to the Queen's Medical Centre were raised at an inquest into his death.
Joseph Whitchurch was 16-years-old and was stabbed four times in the kitchen of an address at Hickings Lane in Stapleford in the morning of Boxing Day 2020.
The former Nottingham College pupil was taken to QMC via ambulance, but died on December 29 2020.
Jake Rollinson was found guilty of his murder unanimously by a jury on September 1 last year, and will be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (February 25) after it was delayed because he was to be seen by a psychiatrist.
The inquest into Joseph's death at Nottingham Council House on Wednesday (February 23) heard that the stabbing happened following an argument between Rollinson and Joseph, accepted to be some time between 5.16am and when ambulance crews were called at 5.23am on Boxing Day 2020.
One of the stab wounds that Joseph suffered was through his chest and into his heart, and the knife had almost completely gone through the vital organ.
Before the ambulance arrived at 5.33am, Joseph suffered a cardiac arrest.
He was then taken the Queen's Medical Centre.
But two minutes away from the QMC, at 6.03am, the ambulance stopped and a thoracotomy (a surgical procedure where the chest is opened) was performed in the back of the vehicle, with his chest then stapled back together.
It was so an internal cardiac massage to help with circulation of blood could be performed. This was because blood had built up around the heart meaning there was a lot of pressure on it.
The vehicle was stationary for three minutes and 46 seconds, and arrived at the QMC at 6.10am.
Joseph was taken to the resuscitation area at 6.12am.
During the inquest, a top surgeon raised concerns about the time and location the thoracotomy was performed, saying it would have been better for Joseph to have gone straight to the QMC, and that the delay could have been avoided.
But he did say in this specific case, it would have not been likely to have changed the outcome for Joseph, which Assistant Coroner Elizabeth Didcock agreed with.
Adam Brooks, a leading major trauma surgeon in Nottingham and director of the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre at the Queen's Medical Centre, was the on-call surgeon at the time.
He received a call at 5.58am, arrived at hospital at 6.18am and helped to stabilise Joseph including by performing a thoracotomy.
Mr Brooks believes the ambulance crew should not have stopped because they were so close to the QMC, and should have continued their journey to hospital, because of better access to blood and blood products there, a more experienced set of staff and there being more staff on hand among the reasons given.
It was argued by Dominic Ruck-Keene, the legal representative for the air ambulance service, that an SOP (standard operating procedure) is that if a thoracotomy needs to be performed, it should be done as quickly as possible.
Mr Brooks said locality and situational variety should be taken into account going forward, and that the three minutes and 46 seconds was "very quick" for a thoracotomy to be completed.
A post-mortem examination found Joseph died from a hypoxic anoxic brain injury (where the brain is starved of oxygen), circulatory and respiratory arrest (blood circulation and breathing stopped) and from a stab wound to the chest.
Joseph was also found to have cocaine and cannabis in his system.
Detective Inspector Steven Wragg, who led the criminal investigation by Nottinghamshire Police, said Joseph, Rollinson and another suspect met on the evening of Christmas Day 2020.
He said: "They went on a bit of a drink and drug binge throughout the evening.
"An argument ensued between Rollinson and Joseph, and Rollinson and the other suspect came up with a lie and told this to East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) when the ambulance arrived following the stabbing."
The family of the murdered teenager paid tribute to him, saying he 'was a loving and caring young man'.
A statement was read out at the start of the day's proceedings by Assistant Coroner Didcock.
It said: "Joseph was a loving and caring young man.
"People loved being around him, and he had a loving and caring personality - he loved swimming, rugby and cricket and swam for his county too.
"He did well in school, and wanted to be an engineer after having completed work experience at Rolls Royce.
"Joseph helped out his dad labouring and he wanted to learn to drive.
"He was looking forward to finishing college and entering the world of work.
"Joseph has left a hole in our lives, and we will cherish memories of him - no-one can prepare for the loss of your child."
The inquest continues.
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