Nurse dies trying to push paraplegic patient out window in fire, Louisiana officials say

A nurse died during desperate attempts to rescue her paraplegic patient from a house fire in Louisiana, officials say.

Gwendolyn Theus rushed to her 71-year-old patient’s room after the blaze broke out Monday evening at the home in Dehli, a small town in northeast Louisiana, according to the state fire marshal.

At first, the 64-year-old in-home nurse tried to wheel the patient’s bed out of the room but couldn’t escape, officials say. Then Theus pulled the patient out of bed and tried to push her out of a window but the smoke overcame her.

Neighbors outside the window of the single-story home also tried to pull the patient from the window until firefighters arrived, officials say.

The firefighters removed Theus and the patient from the home. They revived the patient and flew her to a burn unit in Mississippi. But Theus could not be saved.

“Ms. Theus’ valiant efforts to put her patient’s life before her own are both admirable and heartbreaking,” State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning said in a news release. “Our prayers are with her loved ones and with the surviving victim for her recovery and loss of her dedicated nurse and friend.”

The cause of the fire has not been determined.