Elderly man pulls fake gun on paramedic

An elderly man has been arrested after shoving a fake gun in the face of Victorian paramedic trying to take him to hospital.

The 82-year-old man was in bed at his Cairnlea home about 1pm on Monday when paramedics were called to his aid.

He was believed to be having a neurological episode.

Paramedics were trying to get him ready to go to hospital - which he didn't want to do - when things turned violent.

The elderly man grabbed a fake revolver from behind his pillow and pointed it at the male paramedic.

The female paramedic had already left to get a stretcher.

"The patient became a bit combative," Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill told AAP on Tuesday.

"They tried to encourage him to go to hospital and it was at that point he pointed a firearm at a paramedic."

But the former policeman-turned-paramedic wrestled the weapon out of the elderly man's grip before officers arrived.

"He was a police officer before he was a paramedic. In this case he has reacted absolutely quite heroically and what he has done has protected himself and others on the scene," Mr Hill said, noting there was a relative there too.

Police expect to interview the man when his health improves.