A woman gave her dying husband CPR in the back of an ambulance as a member of the crew stood back and did nothing.
The ambulance technician offered the lady no assistance in performing the potentially life-saving procedure as she battled to try and save her dying partner.
In a complaint to the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman (SPSO) she said she was asked to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on her husband, while the crew member offered her no assistance, the Daily Record reports.
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It is not clear if the technician did not have the relevant skills, or there was another reason, but the woman continued carry out the procedure alone until they arrived at hospital.
She also criticised the length of time it took for the service to respond to her call for help after her husband took unwell at home.
Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "The time taken to convey this person to hospital may have cost them their life and urgent steps need to be taken to ensure this doesn't happen again."
The woman had initially complained to the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), but was not satisfied with their investigation.
She then raised it with the Ombudsman, who upheld her complaint.
The watchdog recommended changes to how the SAS investigates complaints and ordered them to apologise to the woman, who has not been named.
The SPSO judgement explained: "It should have been clear to the ambulance crew that A (the patient) was seriously unwell and that the time spent on scene was unreasonable and that the decision to ask C (the patient's wife) to perform CPR was not reasonable.
"We found that the initial investigation was not sufficient, although we acknowledged the proactive steps taken by SAS to address this issue and acknowledge failings, including asking C to commence CPR.
"We also found that in this case the full crew should have been interviewed. We upheld C's complaints."
The watchdog told the SAS to apologise for the length of time taken to assess her husband at their home, delays in getting him to hospital, a failure to follow clinical guidelines and failure to handle her complaint properly.
Last night, an SAS spokesman said: "This is a tragic case and we have apologised to the family of the patient privately and in person. We note the SPSO's final decision and we will implement their recommendations.
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