Abandonment: the duty to continue management of a patient until such responsibility is transferred to another medical professional possessing an equal or higher level of skill.
The following terminology is not intended to be all inclusive
Breach of duty: Failure to provide care.
Causation: That a breach of duty which the plaintiff complains of, was the actual cause of the injury.
Damages: The actual injury or suffered by the plaintive. This term is also used by attorneys to describe the amount a plaintive is seeking.
Defendant: The person against whom the plaintiff’s lawsuit is filed.
Duty to act: The legal responsibility to provide care.
Good Samaritan laws: Statues providing immunity to certain groups of individuals, depending on the specific language of the statute:
Michigan’s Good Samaritan Law:
IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN "LAY INDIVIDUAL" (CIVILLIAN) IS COVERED UNDER THE GOOD SAMARTIAN ACT AGAINST LAW SUITS WHEN RENDERING APPROPRIATE CPR. CIVILLIAN'S ARE NOW PROTECTED IN THE USE OF (AED'S) AUTOMATIC DEFIBRILLATORS. AS DEFINED IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN LEGISLATION. A "LAY INDIVIDUAL" (Civilian) IS COVERED UNDER THE GOOD SAMARTIAN ACT AGAINST LAW SUITS WHEN RENDERING APPROPRIATE CPR.
Plaintiff: The party initiating the legal action.
Malpractice: A term of often used to describe the laws of negligence as it applies to professionals. There are no significant differences between ordinary negligence cases and those where Malpractice is alleged.
Negligence: Failure to exercise reasonable in ordinary caution in respect to others the little negligence is a modern term to describe hotels of torts.
Liability: A determination at the conclusion of the legal process, that person has been negligent, and then negligence coast injury to another person and the negligent person must compensate the injured person for injury or loss.
Liability insurance: A policy of insurance which may be purchased a perfect legal defense service and indemnification against judgments or settlements.
Proximate cause: Reasonable cause and effect relationship between the complainants -complaint in the damages sustained.
Assault:is defined as to threaten with our, unlawfully placing a person in apprehension of immediately badly harm without his or her consent.
Battery:is defined as the unlawful touching another person without his or her consent.
Statute of Limitations
Statue of Limitations:The time, within which the legal action must be commenced, the statute of limitation for negligence is three years and normally starts to run from the time of the negligent conduct.
In malpractice the statute of limitation is two years.
However the statue of limitations my not start to run until discovery that of a negligent act or conduct.
According to the Web site lawyersandsettlements.com, a class action lawsuit was filed February in Federal Court in Texas against Ford Motor Co. alleging the company's diesel-powered ambulances are defective. According to the Web site, fire departments and ambulance services across the country have been experiencing engine problems such as blown gaskets, radiator hoses, and sensors in Ford ambulances equipped with the six-liter diesel.
Medical Records and Reports:
Medical records are a very important document, which contains all the pertinent information regarding to patient care, vital signs, treatment, and transportation issues.
A medical record of events and actions are a critical resource and documentation tool, and is very essential if a case turns into a legal case, or Lawsuit. Remember if it is not written it didn’t happen.
Record keeping is important because it provides a mechanism for efficient continuity of patient care.
It provides quality assurance information.
Administrative information should include the patient’s demographics and billing data.
The EMS run form provides both official and legal documentation of the patient’s care provided by the medics, as well as care provided by First Responders as well as bystanders.
At the minimum the patient report should contain the following information:
Patient history, physical exam findings, the medic’s impression of the patient’s illness or injuries, and the treatment provided.
The most common format for writing patient reports are:
Soape Chart
The acronym Soape stands for:
Subjective information offered by the patient
Objective information which is observed in measurable
Assessment impression of the illness or injury
Plan what the paramedic did to treat the patient
Evaluation of the care given by the paramedic and reassessment of the patient’s condition upon transfer to a receiving facility.The acronym for chart for:
Patients chief complaint
Patients history
Paramedics assessment of the illness or injury
Paramedics treatment of the patients illness or injuries
Transport; allow patients transported including the positioning of the patient.
Run reports or charts are legal documents. The copy should be kept on file with both the ems provider and medical facility in which the patient was received.
The patient’s chart is to be written using correct medical terminology. Medical control authority or even sees approved abbreviations may be used.
Mistakes on the chart are to be drawn through with a single line and initialed by the medic writing the report.
The paramedic may be required to file other reports in special circumstances such as suspected cases of spousal abuse and child abuse.
Irregular occurrences will need to be documented on a separate incident report. The patient’s chart is not the proper form to document these type of incidents.
In Michigan there are four Levels of emergency medical services Personnel licensed to provide emergency care, they are as follows:
Medical first responder-
Emergency Medical technician
Emergency medical technician specialist
Paramedics
Prerequisites for Licensure of each EMS Personnel include:
Minimum age must be eighteen years to apply.
Successful completion of an appropriate Michigan Department of Public Health approved education program.
MDPH Approval of an examination and or licensure application-Have a passing score as prescribed by the Department’s examinations for State Licensure.
The requirements for maintaining EMS Personnel Licensure Include:
-Meeting ongoing education as prescribed credit Department of Emergency Medical Services.
-Successful completion of a Department approved refresher course as an alternative to ongoingeducation.
Coming over 2010 "Crime Scenes," when to enter, how to enter the scene, how to provide Patient care, and preserve evidence
MEDICAL LEGAL & LAWSUITS
City to Appeal Order to Reinstate Fired EMT
11-25-2008 The District government will appeal a court ruling that overturned the city's firing of an emergency medical technician for her role in the botched care of a former New York Times journalist slain in 2006. D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said yesterday that the city will fight a D.C. Superior Court decision last week that upheld an employment judge's ruling that the District waited too long to fire Selena Walker. Walker was among the emergency medical workers faulted for the care of journalist David E. Rosenbaum, who died in January 2006. The court said the city failed to act within a 90-day window.
The city will ask the D.C. Court of Appeals to overturn the decision. Walker was the driver of an ambulance crew that got lost on the way to pick up Rosenbaum, mistakenly determined that he was intoxicated, classified him as a low priority and then bypassed one hospital to take him to another that was farther away, according to Nickles and a D.C. inspector general's report.
Nickles said that Walker did not provide a full account of her actions during an initial interview before a panel that was reviewing the case in January 2006. She said she did not know why she went to Howard University Hospital instead of Sibley Memorial Hospital, which was closer, he said.
But in a June 2006 report released by the D.C. inspector general, Walker acknowledged that she had gone to Howard because it was closer to her home and she wanted to run errands, Nickles said. The city fired Walker that month. "We would have been attacked if we terminated her earlier," Nickles said. "The [inspector general's] report was June 15, 2006, so the date of termination was well within the 90 days to me, this kind of misconduct is exactly what we in this administration need to act on to hold people accountable."
Rosenbaum, 63, died of a brain injury two days after he was attacked on Gramercy Street NW.
While the appeal is pending, Walker remains off the job, Nickles said.
Edmonton Canada April 2009 - The Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA/NUPGE) will press at a meeting this week for an "expeditious decision" by the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) on the transfer of union representation for approximately 1,000 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel across the province.
A meeting is scheduled this week by parties that are affected to deal with the issue.
"The ALRB needs to go through its processes to decide when the change of union representation would occur," says HSAA president Elisabeth Ballermann. "We have been advocating to get that decision made as quickly as possible, to provide certainty to those EMS professionals impacted by the provincial government’s recent decision."
Hector Goudreau, Alberta's employment and immigration minister, recently announced that more than 1,000 EMS personnel will be moved into the existing Paramedical Professional and Technical (PRT) unit, which is currently represented by HSAA.
"While we’re aware of the need for some finality regarding this issue, these delays are out of our hands," Ballermann notes, adding that a challenge to the ministerial order is being made by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and that HSAA's hands are tied until legal issues are resolved.
"Assuming the transfer to HSAA proceeds, we would then commence the process of achieving standardized terms and conditions of employment for these EMS employees," Ballermann says.
"At our end, HSAA will do everything within our means to minimize disruption to these members and to wind up with the best possible collective agreement provisions. We have found that the combination of member participation (in this case EMS workers) and professional negotiators creates a powerful synergy at the bargaining table."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good.
Kansas City, MO May 18, 2009: The family of a flight nurse killed in a helicopter crash last August has filed a wrongful death lawsuit (CASE NO. 49D01-0905-CT-022863) in Marion County Superior Court. On August 31, 2008 a Bell 206 helicopter operating as an air ambulance for Air Evac Lifeteam crashed in Burney, Indiana.
Sandra Pearson, age 38, left two children, Gabrielle Morae Pearson, age 8 and Garrett Rigdon Pearson, age 10. The National Bank of Indianapolis as personal representative of the children is suing Rolls-Royce, the engine maker, Decatur County REMC, the owner of the unmarked transmission lines, Rush Memorial Hospital, which authorized the flight mission and allegedly provided improper maintenance, and Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. which provided the main rotor blade.
The helicopter was on a community relations mission to Burney, Indiana visiting the Burney Fire Department. Also on board, in addition to Ms. Pearson, were Wade Weston, the EMT technician and Roger Warren, the pilot.
Shortly after take off, the helicopter was observed flying over unmarked tension wires when the main rotor blade fractured and the helicopter crashed. All aboard were killed.
Post-crash investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that the helicopter's main rotor blade had fractured. "The tip of the main rotor blade struck the utility wire or it just fractured on its own," said Gary C. Robb, a helicopter crash lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri who represents the Pearson family. "It is very rare to see a main rotor blade just come apart in mid-air on its own without hitting any fixed obstacle or structure."
The children seek unspecified damages for the loss of their mother. For further information on behalf of the Pearson family, call Missouri personal injury attorney Gary C. Robb of Robb & Robb LLC in Kansas City, Missouri at (816) 474-8080.
Source Press Release:Robb & Robb LLC
Family Files Suit in 2008 Fatal Helicopter Crash
Medical Technician charged with forging EMT license
08-10-2009 A Lancaster PA, man allegedly obtained someone else’s credentials off the Internet in order to get a job as a medical assistant at a Granville dermatology office has been charged with identity fraud and forgery.
Granville police said Shannon L. Alvis, 38, admitted to printing someone else’s Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) License off the Internet, then altered the License in order to obtain a job at a Dermatology Center.
Granville police officer Shawn Wilson stated that Alvis “needed Medical Training to get the job, but he never completed any.”
Alvis’ supervisor told police she discovered that Alvis had never been a Certified EMT after checking National and State Licensed Registries. Alvis was fired from his job July 23, 2009 after the discovery was made by the Supervisior.
An exact description of Alvis’ duties, was not defined by Law Enforcement, The investigating Officer states that Alvis was involved in direct patient care.
Both charges are fifth-degree felonies. The charges will be turned over to the Licking County Grand Jury for possible indictment.
10-01-2009 More than four years after a Franklin County man was mistakenly declared dead in a traffic accident and sent to the morgue in a body bag, his family has reached a $1 million legal settlement against the county and two paramedics.
Larry Donnell Green was walking along U.S. Highway 401 north of Louisburg when he was hit by a car on Jan. 24, 2005. Paramedics responding to the accident declared Green dead, although they didn't thoroughly examine him.
Green was zipped into a body bag and sent to the Franklin County morgue, where the coroner later saw him breathing. He has spent most of his time since then in a rehabilitation facility in Wilson. He's bed-ridden, can barely talk and will likely be that way for the rest of his life, family members have said.
Green's parents, Larry Alston and Ruby Kelly, sued the county, three emergency rescue squads, several paramedics and medical examiner Dr. J.B. Perdue in December 2007, alleging they were negligent and were responsible for his permanent injuries and the family's emotional distress.
Franklin County's insurance carrier recently reached a settlement with the family, which was approved by Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand. The bulk of the $1 million settlement will be placed in a trust to pay for Green's medical care, attorneys said. "The matter has been resolved on the county's behalf by our insurance carrier. The county takes comfort in this matter being settled and understands the monies will go toward the continued care of Mr. Green," Franklin County Attorney Darnell Batton said in a statement.
The settlement covers the county, Franklin County EMS and paramedics Katherine Lamell and Paul Kilmer. The suit is still pending against Perdue, paramedics Wade Kearney and Pamela Hayes, emergency medical technician Ronnie Wood, first responder Phillip Grissom Jr., Louisburg Rescue and EMS and Epsom Fire and Rescue Association.
Family of Man Declared Dead Settles in Lawsuit
Paramedic Sentenced to 12 years in Prison for Beating Patinet
11-13-2009 A Denver Paramedic was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday November 13, 2009, for severely beating a patient while transporting him to the Denver Health Medical Center emergency room in January of 2009.
Paramedic Alan Miller, 31, was sentenced after being convicted by a Denver jury in October of second-degree assault and false reporting.
On Jan. 3, 2009, Miller and other Paramedics picked up Tim Smith, 39, who had suffered a seizure and hit his head. Smith's wife, Suzanne Lawrence, drove her own car to Denver Health.
When she arrived, her husband had a fractured skull, a broken eye socket and a broken nose. Miller's partner, Shaunna King, told Lawrence that they had to stop while enroute to the hospital because her husband had come out of his restraints.
The EMS crew blamed police for Smith's injuries. When police investigated, the paramedic’s office refused to show police their records. A Judge signed a search warrant for the Paramedic’s office, that resulted in the discovery of documents and two e-mails related to the call and were turned over to Lawrence and police.
Denver Deputy DA Alma Staub argued for a sentence in the upper end of the 5-16 year range. In giving Miller 12 years in prison, the judge noted that not only did Miller injure someone he was supposed to be caring for; he also had tried to avoid responsibility by blaming the assault on an innocent law enforcement officer.
Newport Beach CA 11-13-2009 An Emergency Medical Technician was convicted Friday November 13, 2009 of raping a female patient in a hospital room while she was unable to resist due to intoxication, authorities said. EMT Jesse Karim Pena was arrested at a family member’s home in Ontario on June 25, 2009. At the time of the rape, Pena was employed as an independent contractor EMT who may also have worked at other hospitals in Orange County and the San Diego area, prosecutors said.
EMT Jesse Karim Pena, 32, of Winchester was sentenced to three years in state prison after pleading guilty in Newport Beach to one count of rape of an intoxicated person, according to a press release from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
The victim, identified only as Jane Doe, was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo on Feb. 21, 2009, at around midnight, Pena entered the victims hospital room and raped her while she was alone and unable to resist, prosecutors stated.
EMS Medic Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Accident that Fatally Injured Patient
12-18-2009 Louisville, KY: EMT Tammy Renee Brewer had methadone in her system while she was transporting Vickie Whobrey, 54, to Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in southwestern Louisville on April 3, 2008. Brewer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and faces a 10-year prison sentence.
The ambulance Brewer was driving struck and severed a telephone pole, went through a drainage ditch, crossed Van Hoose Road, entered another drainage ditch, hit an earthen embankment, continued up the embankment and struck a chain-link fence before coming to rest in a yard. Besides manslaughter in the second degree, Brewer pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, wanton endangerment, criminal mischief and driving under the influence.
Brewer had initially told Police investigators she swerved to avoid a pedestrian who darted in her path on Rockford Lane and lost control of the vehicle. But a female witness driving behind the ambulance on Rockford Lane told The Courier-Journal that she saw no pedestrian and that the ambulance had been traveling erratically for at least a half-mile before the collision. The patient a female 54 years of age was being taken to the hospital due to a prolonged nosebleed earlier, after the accident she was transported by another ambulance to University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead of blunt-force trauma.
Brewer told police she had not taken any narcotics that day. A drug screen conducted by University Hospital after the accident showed no traceable amounts of any drugs in Brewer's system. However, a test by the Kentucky State Police lab found Brewer had a “therapeutic” level of methadone in her system. Brewer was not being treated at the closest clinic for methadone, a synthetic narcotic often used as a painkiller and to treat heroin addiction, according to court records.
EMS records indicate that before coming to work at 10 p.m. April 2, about 2½ hours before the accident, Brewer had a headache and took two pills that she later told a supervisor she believed were over-the-counter medications for a headache. During the shift, Brewer's EMS partner, paramedic Gregory Gavin, sent a text message to a co-worker saying, “You should see her (Brewer), she is loopy,” and requesting that a supervisor be contacted, according to court records.
EMT Robert Tousignant, said he replied: “OK to drive?” Gavin's response, according to Tousignant: “Her, no.” Concerned about her behavior, Gavin told Brewer to turn off the ambulance's lights and sirens and proceed “Code-1, not Code-3, to the hospital,” according to court records. “I felt Code 3 would have compromised the safety of everyone,” said Gavin, adding that Whobrey's condition was stable at the time.
An EMS official “had started to take action by attempting to call” Brewer's ambulance and “put them out of service and have Brewer taken for a drug screen,” but the accident occurred first, according to court records.
Brewer told police she was turning off the sirens when she saw a teen dart in front of her and she swerved, causing the accident.
Whobrey's estate has settled a wrongful-death lawsuit against Louisville metro government and Brewer. Her family declined to discuss that settlement Thursday December 17, 2009.
01-29-2010 A former Dooly County EMS director has been terminated as a result of charges lodged against him. Gary Rothwell, agent in charge of the GBI Perry office confirmed Friday, January 29, 2010, that Tony Heath who had directed the Emergency Medical Service for approximately 10 years has been charged with financial transaction card fraud.
Heath was notified Friday January 29, 2010, that he has been terminated, according to Dooly County Administrator Steve Sanders. The former director had been employed with the EMS since 1995, Sanders said.
Tommy Phillips, a former director and EMS employee in Dooly County for more than 30 years, has been appointed interim director. He will serve while county officials go through the process of advertising and hiring a new full-time director, Sanders explained.
GBI agents took Heath into custody Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010, following a two-month investigation. Rothwell said Dooly County Sheriff Van Peavy requested that his office conduct the investigation since it involved a county employee.
Sanders said department heads who have county credit cards are required to provide receipts when they make purchases. The county administrator said he discovered in October of 2009 that Heath had failed to turn in the proper documentation for some charges on the county card he was using. When Sanders requested that documentation, Heath still did not provide it. At that point Sanders and the county commissioners asked Peavy to investigate the matter. When he was arrested Tuesday, Heath was taken to the Crisp County Justice Center. He was released on bond Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010.
Dooly County EMS director has been terminated
Unlicensed EMT turns Himself In
03-2010 An unlicensed emergency medical technician who was working with the Barrington Fire Department for a year and a half turned himself in on Thursday, according to Barrington police.
Thomas McGovney was arraigned before a Rhode Island justice of the peace and released on personal recognizance. He was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses over $500 and giving false documents to a public official.
Chief John LaCross of the Barrington Police Department said McGovney was receiving a stipend above normal firefighter pay for an EMT license he didn’t have. According to Rhode Island Department of Health spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth, McGovney completed his training but never took or passed a test to get his license.
McGovney resigned earlier this month after his lack of proper licensing came to the attention of the fire chief and town officials.
McGovney is scheduled to appear in Providence Superior Court on May 20, 2010.
Polk County Settles with Victim Involved in Ambulance Wreck
03-2010 A Winter Haven man’s lawsuit against the county commission may soon be over. The Board of County Commissioners at their regular meeting Wednesday morning voted to offer a $35,000 settlement to Danny L. Brungs who was injured when his car was struck by a county ambulance attempting a U-turn.
A former salesman, the 50-year-old Brungs was traveling south on Lake Alfred Road when a Polk County ambulance collided with his vehicle, Mike Kushner director of risk management for the BOCC, told the county commission.
“The EMS unit was not in emergency mode and pulled off the right hand side of the roadway to set up to make a U-turn on Lake Alfred Road,” Kushner explained. “The driver of the ambulance then initiated the U-turn across two southbound lanes in front of Mr. Brungs’ vehicle and at that time Mr. Brungs’ vehicle hit the ambulance.”
Records indicate that Brungs’ medical expenses are approximately $30,000.
Kushner and county attorney Michael Craig have been negotiating for months with Brungs’ legal team – ultimately developing a $35,000 settlement that includes legal fees. The settlement will be paid out of the county’s general fund.
The Owner of two Ambulance Companies Guilty on 14 counts of Billing Fraud
05-10-2010 A federal jury convicted the owner of two ambulance companies of 14 counts of fraudulently billing Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers for more than $3.5 million. A jury found Muhammed Nasiru Usman, 50, of Arlington, Texas, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, 12 counts of health care fraud and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity.
The conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each of the health-care fraud counts carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Co-defendants Shaun Outen, 32, of Aubrey, Texas, and David McNac, 35, of Dallas, pleaded guilty to their role in the conspiracy before trial.
Prosecutors say Usman's companies, Royal Ambulance Service, and First Choice EMS, primarily transferred patients on a nonemergency basis to and from dialysis treatments three times per week. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the defendants told Royal and First Choice employees to omit facts in documenting their work, such as whether patients walked to the ambulance, to qualify for reimbursement.
Company records showed that many patients rode to appointments in a captain's chair in the ambulance, rather than on a stretcher. Payments of more than $1.2 million were made to the companies. Usman is to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis on July 28, McNac pleaded guilty on April 22, and is to be sentenced on July 21, Outen pleaded guilty on March 24; his sentencing is set for June 16, 2010.
The conviction was a result of "Operation Easy Rider," in which search warrants were executed on ambulance companies across Texas.
Jefferson County seeking to dismiss a wrongful Death Lawsuit in Death of EMT
05-22-2010 Jefferson County New Jersey Attorney David J. Paulsen filed a response Wednesday at the county clerk's office to a state Supreme Court action brought April 29, 2010, by Mr. Davis's mother, Marsha L. Dickinson. In an answer to the complaint, Mr. Paulsen denied that the county was negligent in its conduct toward Mr. Davis or that it breached any duty owed him on the night of Jan. 30, 2009.
EMT Mark Davis, who worked as an EMT for the Cape Vincent Volunteer Fire Department, was shot and killed while responding to a reported chest-pain call at 114 S. Esseltyne St. in Cape Vincent. The patient, Christopher M. Burke, allegedly went into a bedroom, retrieved a shotgun and used it to kill Mr. Davis.
The lawsuit, also names the Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service Inc., the family claims the defendants were negligent by, among other things, failing to properly train personnel and failing to render assistance and emergency medical care to Mr. Davis the night he was shot.
While the County has issued blanket denials to most of the Davis family's complaints, the county claims that any alleged injuries suffered by the family as a result of Mr. Davis's death resulted from his negligence or other culpable conduct. The county's response does state how it is alleged that EMT Davis was negligent.
The county maintains that if any damages are awarded the family as a result of the action, the award should be reduced by an amount in proportion to which EMT Mark Davis's alleged conduct attributed to the damages. By maintaining that the county was not negligent or otherwise remiss in its duty to Mr. Davis, the county is arguing that the family's lawsuit fails to state a cause of action upon which any relief can be granted. The county is asking for the suit's dismissal on that basis.
Burke, the alleged shooter, is not named as a defendant in the suit. He was arrested after the shooting and arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree menacing and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.
200 + EMTs Suspended in License Scam
Boston 05-18-2010 -- More than 200 emergency medical technicians have been suspended for falsifying training records after an 18-month investigation revealed that the workers had not attended required refresher classes, the state announced Thursday.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said 207 EMTs will have their licenses suspended for 45 days to nine months, depending on the severity of the falsifications. Private companies and municipalities that employ the emergency workers may also take their own disciplinary actions, the state said.
The agency said the emergency workers, to gain recertification, claimed they completed training they never attended. Most of the workers are from the Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston, according to public health officials.
DPH Commissioner John Auerbach said there has been a “systemic effort to falsify information” by some emergency workers.
The EMTs “knowingly signed up for and paid for trainings, fully aware that they would never be held,” Auerbach said. There have been no complaints of inappropriate care because of EMTs’ failure to go through recertification courses, he said.
The department launched an investigation after receiving tips that EMTs, paramedics, police officers and firefighters from Massachusetts and New Hampshire were getting documentation from certificate mills without attending the required classes.
The department will begin taking steps to prevent such abuses from recurring, including requiring emergency workers to take an ethics class, Auerbach said. He said the length of the suspensions should be a deterrent to others considering falsifying credentials.
Public health officials said the suspended workers come from 10 private and 14 municipal ambulance services, but the department wouldn’t release the names of the ambulance services.
The Department of Public Health has referred the matter to the attorney general’s office.
EMTs are expected to take refresher courses once every two years. The courses review basic skills and cover new procedures.
“The vast majority of Massachusetts’ 24,000 EMTs are properly certified and in compliance with required training,” JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.
The emergency workers can appeal their suspensions.
The suspensions will take effect July 1 to give ambulance services enough time to find replacements. Several EMTs have already been terminated by their employers, public health officials said.
EMT licenses of 30 Haverhill firefighters suspended
Haverhill MA 05-18-2010 - State public health officials have suspended the licenses of 207 emergency medical technicians and paramedics across Massachusetts because they were involved in falsifying training records. That number includes 30 Haverhill firefighters and 35 Trinity EMS ambulance workers, the state said. The suspensions will take effect July 1, 2010. Most will be for nine months, but a smaller number will last 45 days, Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach said Thursday June 17, 2010.
The announcement was the latest development in a probe of EMTs and paramedics working in several fire departments and ambulance companies. The investigation began a month ago and focuses on reports that rescue workers received documents showing they received required recertification training when they actually did not attend classes.
EMTs are supposed to attend classes on their own every two years to be recertified. In Haverhill, firefighters receive about $1,500 extra to be EMTs.
Among the people involved in the probe was Haverhill firefighter Jeff Given, who admitted in an affidavit that he helped a Trinity ambulance paramedic, who also is a recertification trainer, obtain falsified documentation. The affidavit was filed by state health officials and obtained by The Eagle-Tribune.
Given also told investigators he collected money and obtained the signatures of other Haverhill firefighters who are EMTs on official attendance rosters, the affidavit stated. He gave the money and rosters to Trinity paramedic Leo Nault in a downtown parking lot, the document stated.
Given and Nault could not be reached for comment.
"Nault aided, abetted and/or permitted a total of 170 EMTs to obtain supplemental training credits for training that never took place," the affidavit said. The state will not identify any other people targeted in the investigation or the length of their EMT/paramedic suspensions until next week, said Jennifer Manley, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health. She said the state wants to send each person a letter of notification before releasing their names.
State health officials also recommended that Nault's certification as an EMT and paramedic be permanently revoked, according to the affidavit. Given and three other "facilitators" worked with Nault in obtaining falsified training documents, the affidavit stated. Mayor James Fiorentini said fire Chief Richard Borden has assured him the suspensions will not affect the Fire Department's ability to respond to medical emergencies because there are plenty of other firefighters who have EMT credentials. The mayor also said he does not expect the EMT status suspensions to keep any of the Haverhill firefighters from remaining on the job and performing their other duties.
Chris Dick, director of marketing for Trinity EMS, said there will be "no interruption of service" on the part of his company, which is based in Haverhill and serves several communities in the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. "We have hired 17 new EMTs and paramedics," Dick said. He said it remains to be seen what the company will do with the suspended EMTs. Trinity has 250 employees, of whom 180 are EMTs or paramedics, Dick said.
Some of the Trinity workers whose licenses are suspended are "great people, strong EMTs," he said. They might have been "enticed" by people offering the opportunity to get their recertifications without having to sit through classes, he said. Auerbach said he is sending the results of the investigation to the attorney general's office for review. The mayor said that review might result in criminal charges against some of the people who were investigated. "We're looking at all our options," Fiorentini said.
The city will begin its own internal investigation, he said. The mayor conferred with Personnel Director Mary Carrington and City Solicitor William Cox yesterday. "We don't know yet," the mayor said, when asked if there could be additional suspensions or terminations.
Noting that Hamilton and Wenham faced similar problems with firefighters and police officers who were not properly recertified as EMTs, he said he intends to assess how those communities dealt with that situation, which resulted in criminal charges.
According to the affidavit, the Office of Emergency Medical Services, which is under the Department of Public Health, began the probe after finding out from Trinity EMS that several EMTs and paramedics paid Nault for refresher courses and advanced cardiac life support training without attending the required classes.
Nault admitted charging basic EMTs $50 and paramedics $125 "in exchange for submitting falsified training documentation to the department for EMT recertification," the affidavit stated.
Two Charged with Stealing over $127,000 from Honey Brook Fire Company Ambulance Division
07-13, 2010 Two Narvon residents are facing criminal charges after authorities allege they stole more than $127,000 from their former employer, the Honey Brook Fire Company Ambulance Division. Christopher Aaron Yocom, 35, and Lisa Waughtel, 44,were arrested on July 6, 2010. According to police, between Feb. 26, 2007, and Feb. 11, 2009, the two diverted checks mailed to the ambulance division to an unauthorized bank account at the Sovereign Bank in New Holland.
Both suspects used the money in that account for personal use, police said. The money diverted to the unauthorized account totals $127,239.70, police said. A total of 39 deposits ranging from $500 to $10,000 were made to the unauthorized account, records say. The allegedly stolen funds were used for purchasing items and paying personal bills, according to court documents.
Waughtel was the former treasurer of the Honey Brook Fire Company Ambulance Division. An official from Honey Brook Fire Company Ambulance Division contacted police in June 2009, reporting that money was missing. The missing money included donations and membership fees to the community ambulance division.
In an interview with police on March 26, Yocom admitted that he and Waughtel opened the unauthorized account and "would steal the selected donation and membership checks and deposit into Sovereign Bank." Yocom and Waughtel were arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Michael Cabry and released in lieu of $50,000 bail each.
Yocum and Waughtel are charged with criminal conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, theft by failure to make disposition of funds received, forgery and access device fraud. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. July 30, 2010.
