By SALLY GOLDENBERG
First gas, then milk, now ambulances.
The city is raising the cost of an ambulance ride - with transports for the most critical patients going up to $850 per ride - as part of Mayor Bloomberg's orders to slash costs to raise revenue and plug future budget holes.
Basic Life Support rides will increase to $515 from $475; Advanced Life Support will jump to $750 from $600 and Advanced Life Support for the most critical patients will go up to $850 from $700,
FDNY Commissioner Nicholas
Scoppetta told a City Council Public Safety Committee hearing Monday.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Paramedic accused of stealing from patient
Cops arrested a Pasco County paramedic accused of stealing money from a patient's wallet while transporting the man to a hospital, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Joshua Vitori, 26, was arrested on a charge of grand theft.
The Pasco County personnel director says he plans to resign from his job today.
Here's the story: Vitori went by ambulance to a home in Zephyrhills, where a man was having chest pains. The man's wife handed his wallet to a paramedic to retrieve his insurance card.
A few minutes later, the man was asked for a list of medications and was handed his wallet back, the report says.
That's when he discovered the money — $300 — missing.
Poor patient got taken for a ride.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
When a heart attack goes undiagnosed
By Robert Davis, USA TODAY
Editor's Note: On October 25, 2006, USA TODAY published an article entitled "When a Heart Attack Goes Undiagnosed" regarding the emergency medical care received by James Pettry of Lafayette, Indiana, prior to his death in April 2006. The article may have conveyed the impression that Edward Seall, an emergency room physician who treated Pettry, failed to detect or diagnose a heart attack (myocardial infarction) during Pettry's emergency room visit the day before his death. That is not the case. Seall ran several tests for myocardial infarction and other acute heart problems, and all of the tests were negative. Pettry was later discharged and died suddenly the next day. An autopsy requested by the Pettry family concluded that the cause of death was severe occlusive coronary atherosclerosis, or severely blocked arteries in the heart, and that there was "no evidence" of myocardial infarction or necrosis (cell and tissue death). The story could have used more precise medical terminology in defining the cause of death.
When chest pain woke James Pettry early one morning this spring, his wife, Mary, found him sitting on their bed, short of breath and sweating profusely. She dialed 911.
In the five minutes it took for an ambulance to reach their home in Lafayette, Ind., on April 28, the seriousness of her husband's condition hit Mary. "I thought he was having a heart attack," she says.
The paramedic, who gave Pettry oxygen and aspirin and then used an electrocardiogram machine to examine the heart's electrical function, agreed. The ambulance crew whisked Pettry 3 miles to St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
The doctor in the emergency room, Edward Seall, disagreed with the paramedic. After running more tests, he sent Pettry home nearly five hours later, saying Pettry just had anxiety. The patient was advised to follow up with his doctors but to return if his chest pain became worse.
Pettry, 74, was dead the next day, one of thousands who perish each year when their heart attacks are undetected by doctors.
The retired salesman, a father and grandfather, died from severely clogged arteries while sitting in his easy chair within 24 hours of being discharged, according to an autopsy report.
In part because there is no foolproof test, one in 50 heart attack victims are mistakenly sent home by emergency room doctors, researchers from New England Medical Center in Boston reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2000. Other studies have documented higher rates of missed heart attack diagnosis.
Through his attorney, Jon Pinnick of Indianapolis, Seall stands by his diagnosis and says his patient died from chronic heart disease that had no connection to the symptoms that landed him in the ER.
"It's unfortunate about Mr. Pettry's death, and all concerned wish it hadn't happened," Pinnick says. "Obviously (Seall) feels sympathetic toward the family. But he does not view this as a missed myocardial infarction (heart attack). "We don't believe the care he was provided was below the standard of care and is what led to his unfortunate demise." Mary Pettry says, "It seems like I lost somebody unnecessarily, like there could have been something done."
Going the extra step
Experts say she is right, that often more can be done. Nobody knows exactly how many people die from missed heart attacks every year, but doctors say the number is high despite advances in diagnostics and refinement of medical protocols. "It's tens of thousands of potential cases across the United States each year," says Joseph Ornato, professor and chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, who has researched the emergency care of heart attacks. "Even in the best of hands, you can easily miss cases. This is a very perilous area."
And costly. The monetary risks are huge for physicians. A missed heart attack diagnosis, research has shown, brings the highest malpractice payout of all conditions. The overwhelming majority of malpractice settlements for heart attacks come from errors in diagnosis, according to data from Jury Verdict Research, which tracks and analyzes nationwide trends in personal-injury litigation.
Over the past decade, the median jury verdict for heart attack malpractice lawsuits has been $941,000. The lowest was an Oklahoma judgment for $81,000 in 1996, and the highest, $9 million, came in an Illinois case in 1997.
The Pettry family is considering a lawsuit, but his adult children say what they want most is for other lives to be saved.
The story of Pettry's final hours — and how his death spurred a friend to fight to survive a similar situation — illustrates both the difficulties that doctors face and the actions that can be taken by patients and their advocates.
Stricken before dawn
When medics rolled Pettry into the medical center just after 5 a.m. on April 28, according to medical records, Seall, the doctor on duty in the emergency room, was told the patient with a history of heart problems had suffered "chest pain on and off for the past 24 hours."
Seall ordered the standard tests. The following is from hospital records provided by the Pettry family:
According to the medical records, after seeing all of the test results, Seall ordered Pettry to take an anti-anxiety drug, Ativan, which had made him feel better in the emergency room, as needed at home. He told Pettry to follow up with his primary physician or cardiologist within two to three days. And he advised him to come back to the emergency department if his symptoms became worse.
As he was getting dressed to leave the hospital just before 10 a.m., Pettry had more chest tightness. Notes in the medical record say: Doctor notified, no further orders and patient instructed to return for any problems. "I know what the record says," Pinnick says. "There was a shift change, and at the time that was recorded, (Seall) was not the emergency room physician. Seall was off at 7 a.m., so I don't know if it's a reference to a resident or what, but it wasn't Seall."
In an e-mail response to questions, the hospital said the nurse could have notified "any doctor on staff in the emergency room at that time." The hospital would not comment further on the case, referring all other questions to Seall.
Seall wrote in his "patient instructions for follow-up care," which Pettry signed at 9:55 a.m., "return to the ED (emergency department) if your symptoms get worse." "They dismissed him and told him to rest, and that is what he did," Mary Pettry says. But the next morning she awoke to find him in his favorite chair with the pains he had had for two days. "He said he had these tight chest pains again, but having spent time down at the hospital, we had no place to go but the same place," she says. "He said: 'I think they're going away. They're going to get better."
She went to feed the cat, Pebbles, but because her husband always brewed the coffee, she returned to ask him how many scoops to use. "I touched his arm the way you do when a person is asleep," she says. "His arm was cold, and he didn't have a pulse. I called 911, but when they came, they said it was too late. I knew that."
During the memorial service the following week at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Jim Pettry was remembered as an astute and deeply religious man who developed a love for fishing while growing up in West Virginia.
"Jim was concerned for our world's future and the future of this congregation and thoughtfully sought out a vision and discernment of God's will for our future and worked faithfully toward that future," the Rev. Kevin Bowers told Pettry's friends and family. "He never quit caring about others and will have a positive impact on people's lives even beyond his years."
Two weeks after she attended Pettry's funeral, Connie Gustafson, a longtime friend of Pettry's daughter Deborah, found herself at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with her husband, Rick. On a quiet Tuesday afternoon, he had suddenly felt weak, nearly fainted and broke out in a sweat. The pressure in his upper right chest felt like a previous heart problem that had required bypass surgery 11 years ago.
Despite the similarities and Gustafson's strong feeling that he was having another life-threatening problem with his heart, a cardiologist in the hospital, Irmina Gradus-Pizlo, came to a different conclusion.
'Nothing obvious'
After Gustafson had the same battery of tests Pettry had taken and doctors found no evidence of a heart attack, they went a step further. They admitted him to the hospital and performed more tests, including a stress test, putting Gustafson on a treadmill and monitoring his heart as the 59-year-old social worker was pushed to his physical limits.
"They could find nothing obvious," Connie says. "The cardiologist on call was dismissive. She said there was nothing to support the diagnosis that he had any kind of heart event."
But Connie says her husband "could feel that something was not right."
When no problems were found, doctors determined the uneasy feelings Gustafson had experienced were an "anxiety/panic attack," according to medical records electronically signed by Gradus-Pizlo. Gustafson, like Pettry, was given Ativan and "told he has anxiety attacks and to take a deep breath," the records state. Upon discharge, he was told "to return to the ER if any chest pain recurs."
The records show Gustafson was advised to follow up with his own doctor within four weeks, eat a heart-healthy diet, and take his cholesterol medicines and aspirin, among other medications.
Connie thought of Pettry. "It was heavy on my mind that this was exactly what Jim had gone through: not getting somebody to listen to him."
As the staff prepared to discharge Gustafson, he saw Barry Crevey, a cardiologist he had met through his social work, in the hallway. Crevey listened to Gustafson's story and explained that 25% of heart attacks may be "silent."
Considering Gustafson's history and the fact that both his parents had cardiovascular disease, the doctor suggested his arteries should be checked by threading a heart catheter into them, injecting dye and measuring the openings.
"When he told me his story, I'm thinking, 'This person needs a heart catheterization,' " Crevey says. "This is Cardiology 101. I would not have even bothered to do a non-invasive stress test."
A doctor intervenes
After he was discharged from the hospital, Gustafson became Crevey's patient and two days later had a cardiac catheterization, which, according to his medical records, found "severe, multivessel coronary disease."
Gustafson's medical record detailing the findings of the coronary angiography reads much like Pettry's autopsy report. Both major heart vessels and some of the 11-year-old bypass vessels were 90% to 100% blocked.
The arteries were cleared with stents and a drilling procedure, and Gustafson is now back at work with "a clean bill of health," Connie says.
"They were big arteries," she says, noting one of the arteries that was almost completely blocked — the left anterior descending artery — is sometimes called "the widowmaker" because of the deadly result when it gets clogged.
Gradus-Pizlo says, "In a patient with known disease, there is no question there are blockages there," but none of the blockages were putting Gustafson's life at immediate risk.
His heart was working fine with the reduced blood flow, which was confirmed by the fact that he passed the stress test, she says. "Even with those blockages, he had adequate blood supply. I'm not saying he doesn't have disease. He has severe disease. I didn't recommend therapy. I recommended aggressive medical management based on guidelines."
Though she agrees the blockages should have been opened once they were seen, she does not believe she misdiagnosed Gustafson. "I believe it is a difference of approach," Gradus-Pizlo says.
"This is a matter of clinical judgment."
Crevey's medical record of Gustafson's condition shows frustration with the initial diagnosis.
"He gave a vivid classic description of a major cardiac ischemic event," the report says, meaning an artery in his heart was blocked. In addition to his parents' heart disease, Gustafson's
"personal history began with a false-negative cardiac stress test" before his initial bypass surgery. "All of that was far too much to overlook, despite the 'normal' stress test," the report says.
Crevey says a doctor relying too much on tests instead of the patient's own story "is a classic dilemma in medicine."
"The tests are not perfect," he says. "I think the clinician must be super wary of worshiping at the altar of the tests. Unfortunately, that is often the case. They say the test here is negative and therefore you are OK, and that is the end of the story. It certainly happened with Mr. Gustafson."
In Crevey's opinion, based on his review of the record, Gradus-Pizlo's decision was a "serious misdiagnosis."
Many similar stories
Ornato, an expert on emergency room cardiac care, says stories such as Pettry's and Gustafson's represent the difficulties doctors face in diagnosing heart problems.
Over the past six years, studies in the New England Journal of Medicine and other journals have found a heart attack diagnosis is missed in 2% of heart attack patients seeking help in the USA's emergency rooms, 3% in Canada and 6% in the United Kingdom.
"It is the horns of the dilemma. On one hand, there are limitations to the diagnostic tools, and they are very real limitations," Ornato says. "The electrocardiogram is the first screening tool, and it's only going to pick up, on a good day, 70% to 75% of heart attacks."
He says new devices, including an experimental ECG that maps the heart and CT scanners that can look inside of clogged heart arteries, offer new hope for the future.
But he says patients and their advocates must sometimes push doctors who are not listening.
"If something doesn't feel right to them, they have the responsibility to express that," Ornato says. "It's the responsibility of the nurses and physicians to listen."
Prediman Shah, director of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, says better listening might have saved Pettry.
"A 74-year-old is already a high-risk candidate," he says. "Then, having symptoms, that patient deserves a full evaluation in the hospital. No question. If he is admitted and treated, the risk of sudden death is dramatically reduced."
Mary Pettry wishes she had fought for more aggressive treatment of her husband's symptoms.
"You look back, and you know what you should have done," she says. "It was a great loss. He was such a good person to talk to."
Connie Gustafson, who won her own battle with breast cancer, says her husband's fight to survive reminded her "how vigilant you have to be in taking care of yourself in hospitals. The system is very precarious, and it is easy for mistakes to be made."
Editor's Note: On October 25, 2006, USA TODAY published an article entitled "When a Heart Attack Goes Undiagnosed" regarding the emergency medical care received by James Pettry of Lafayette, Indiana, prior to his death in April 2006. The article may have conveyed the impression that Edward Seall, an emergency room physician who treated Pettry, failed to detect or diagnose a heart attack (myocardial infarction) during Pettry's emergency room visit the day before his death. That is not the case. Seall ran several tests for myocardial infarction and other acute heart problems, and all of the tests were negative. Pettry was later discharged and died suddenly the next day. An autopsy requested by the Pettry family concluded that the cause of death was severe occlusive coronary atherosclerosis, or severely blocked arteries in the heart, and that there was "no evidence" of myocardial infarction or necrosis (cell and tissue death). The story could have used more precise medical terminology in defining the cause of death.
When chest pain woke James Pettry early one morning this spring, his wife, Mary, found him sitting on their bed, short of breath and sweating profusely. She dialed 911.
In the five minutes it took for an ambulance to reach their home in Lafayette, Ind., on April 28, the seriousness of her husband's condition hit Mary. "I thought he was having a heart attack," she says.
The paramedic, who gave Pettry oxygen and aspirin and then used an electrocardiogram machine to examine the heart's electrical function, agreed. The ambulance crew whisked Pettry 3 miles to St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
The doctor in the emergency room, Edward Seall, disagreed with the paramedic. After running more tests, he sent Pettry home nearly five hours later, saying Pettry just had anxiety. The patient was advised to follow up with his doctors but to return if his chest pain became worse.
Pettry, 74, was dead the next day, one of thousands who perish each year when their heart attacks are undetected by doctors.
The retired salesman, a father and grandfather, died from severely clogged arteries while sitting in his easy chair within 24 hours of being discharged, according to an autopsy report.
In part because there is no foolproof test, one in 50 heart attack victims are mistakenly sent home by emergency room doctors, researchers from New England Medical Center in Boston reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2000. Other studies have documented higher rates of missed heart attack diagnosis.
Through his attorney, Jon Pinnick of Indianapolis, Seall stands by his diagnosis and says his patient died from chronic heart disease that had no connection to the symptoms that landed him in the ER.
"It's unfortunate about Mr. Pettry's death, and all concerned wish it hadn't happened," Pinnick says. "Obviously (Seall) feels sympathetic toward the family. But he does not view this as a missed myocardial infarction (heart attack). "We don't believe the care he was provided was below the standard of care and is what led to his unfortunate demise." Mary Pettry says, "It seems like I lost somebody unnecessarily, like there could have been something done."
Going the extra step
Experts say she is right, that often more can be done. Nobody knows exactly how many people die from missed heart attacks every year, but doctors say the number is high despite advances in diagnostics and refinement of medical protocols. "It's tens of thousands of potential cases across the United States each year," says Joseph Ornato, professor and chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, who has researched the emergency care of heart attacks. "Even in the best of hands, you can easily miss cases. This is a very perilous area."
And costly. The monetary risks are huge for physicians. A missed heart attack diagnosis, research has shown, brings the highest malpractice payout of all conditions. The overwhelming majority of malpractice settlements for heart attacks come from errors in diagnosis, according to data from Jury Verdict Research, which tracks and analyzes nationwide trends in personal-injury litigation.
Over the past decade, the median jury verdict for heart attack malpractice lawsuits has been $941,000. The lowest was an Oklahoma judgment for $81,000 in 1996, and the highest, $9 million, came in an Illinois case in 1997.
The Pettry family is considering a lawsuit, but his adult children say what they want most is for other lives to be saved.
The story of Pettry's final hours — and how his death spurred a friend to fight to survive a similar situation — illustrates both the difficulties that doctors face and the actions that can be taken by patients and their advocates.
Stricken before dawn
When medics rolled Pettry into the medical center just after 5 a.m. on April 28, according to medical records, Seall, the doctor on duty in the emergency room, was told the patient with a history of heart problems had suffered "chest pain on and off for the past 24 hours."
Seall ordered the standard tests. The following is from hospital records provided by the Pettry family:
- An electrocardiogram. The first ECG done just minutes after Pettry arrived in the emergency room was "abnormal." When the test was repeated two hours later, the computerized device said "cannot rule out anterior infarct," a type of heart attack. Pinnick says such computerized findings "are not absolute, and when there are circumstances and clinical findings that kind of trump that, you can't make a diagnosis simply based on a computerized reading."
- A chest X-ray and a CT (computed tomography) scan. Both pictures gave doctors a virtual peek inside and showed Pettry did not have any life-threatening problems that sometimes mimic a heart attack, such as large blood clots in his lungs, bulging blood vessels or problems with organs in his chest.
- •Blood tests, called "cardiac markers" because they can indicate a heart attack, were normal.
According to the medical records, after seeing all of the test results, Seall ordered Pettry to take an anti-anxiety drug, Ativan, which had made him feel better in the emergency room, as needed at home. He told Pettry to follow up with his primary physician or cardiologist within two to three days. And he advised him to come back to the emergency department if his symptoms became worse.
As he was getting dressed to leave the hospital just before 10 a.m., Pettry had more chest tightness. Notes in the medical record say: Doctor notified, no further orders and patient instructed to return for any problems. "I know what the record says," Pinnick says. "There was a shift change, and at the time that was recorded, (Seall) was not the emergency room physician. Seall was off at 7 a.m., so I don't know if it's a reference to a resident or what, but it wasn't Seall."
In an e-mail response to questions, the hospital said the nurse could have notified "any doctor on staff in the emergency room at that time." The hospital would not comment further on the case, referring all other questions to Seall.
Seall wrote in his "patient instructions for follow-up care," which Pettry signed at 9:55 a.m., "return to the ED (emergency department) if your symptoms get worse." "They dismissed him and told him to rest, and that is what he did," Mary Pettry says. But the next morning she awoke to find him in his favorite chair with the pains he had had for two days. "He said he had these tight chest pains again, but having spent time down at the hospital, we had no place to go but the same place," she says. "He said: 'I think they're going away. They're going to get better."
She went to feed the cat, Pebbles, but because her husband always brewed the coffee, she returned to ask him how many scoops to use. "I touched his arm the way you do when a person is asleep," she says. "His arm was cold, and he didn't have a pulse. I called 911, but when they came, they said it was too late. I knew that."
During the memorial service the following week at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Jim Pettry was remembered as an astute and deeply religious man who developed a love for fishing while growing up in West Virginia.
"Jim was concerned for our world's future and the future of this congregation and thoughtfully sought out a vision and discernment of God's will for our future and worked faithfully toward that future," the Rev. Kevin Bowers told Pettry's friends and family. "He never quit caring about others and will have a positive impact on people's lives even beyond his years."
Two weeks after she attended Pettry's funeral, Connie Gustafson, a longtime friend of Pettry's daughter Deborah, found herself at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with her husband, Rick. On a quiet Tuesday afternoon, he had suddenly felt weak, nearly fainted and broke out in a sweat. The pressure in his upper right chest felt like a previous heart problem that had required bypass surgery 11 years ago.
Despite the similarities and Gustafson's strong feeling that he was having another life-threatening problem with his heart, a cardiologist in the hospital, Irmina Gradus-Pizlo, came to a different conclusion.
'Nothing obvious'
After Gustafson had the same battery of tests Pettry had taken and doctors found no evidence of a heart attack, they went a step further. They admitted him to the hospital and performed more tests, including a stress test, putting Gustafson on a treadmill and monitoring his heart as the 59-year-old social worker was pushed to his physical limits.
"They could find nothing obvious," Connie says. "The cardiologist on call was dismissive. She said there was nothing to support the diagnosis that he had any kind of heart event."
But Connie says her husband "could feel that something was not right."
When no problems were found, doctors determined the uneasy feelings Gustafson had experienced were an "anxiety/panic attack," according to medical records electronically signed by Gradus-Pizlo. Gustafson, like Pettry, was given Ativan and "told he has anxiety attacks and to take a deep breath," the records state. Upon discharge, he was told "to return to the ER if any chest pain recurs."
The records show Gustafson was advised to follow up with his own doctor within four weeks, eat a heart-healthy diet, and take his cholesterol medicines and aspirin, among other medications.
Connie thought of Pettry. "It was heavy on my mind that this was exactly what Jim had gone through: not getting somebody to listen to him."
As the staff prepared to discharge Gustafson, he saw Barry Crevey, a cardiologist he had met through his social work, in the hallway. Crevey listened to Gustafson's story and explained that 25% of heart attacks may be "silent."
Considering Gustafson's history and the fact that both his parents had cardiovascular disease, the doctor suggested his arteries should be checked by threading a heart catheter into them, injecting dye and measuring the openings.
"When he told me his story, I'm thinking, 'This person needs a heart catheterization,' " Crevey says. "This is Cardiology 101. I would not have even bothered to do a non-invasive stress test."
A doctor intervenes
After he was discharged from the hospital, Gustafson became Crevey's patient and two days later had a cardiac catheterization, which, according to his medical records, found "severe, multivessel coronary disease."
Gustafson's medical record detailing the findings of the coronary angiography reads much like Pettry's autopsy report. Both major heart vessels and some of the 11-year-old bypass vessels were 90% to 100% blocked.
The arteries were cleared with stents and a drilling procedure, and Gustafson is now back at work with "a clean bill of health," Connie says.
"They were big arteries," she says, noting one of the arteries that was almost completely blocked — the left anterior descending artery — is sometimes called "the widowmaker" because of the deadly result when it gets clogged.
Gradus-Pizlo says, "In a patient with known disease, there is no question there are blockages there," but none of the blockages were putting Gustafson's life at immediate risk.
His heart was working fine with the reduced blood flow, which was confirmed by the fact that he passed the stress test, she says. "Even with those blockages, he had adequate blood supply. I'm not saying he doesn't have disease. He has severe disease. I didn't recommend therapy. I recommended aggressive medical management based on guidelines."
Though she agrees the blockages should have been opened once they were seen, she does not believe she misdiagnosed Gustafson. "I believe it is a difference of approach," Gradus-Pizlo says.
"This is a matter of clinical judgment."
Crevey's medical record of Gustafson's condition shows frustration with the initial diagnosis.
"He gave a vivid classic description of a major cardiac ischemic event," the report says, meaning an artery in his heart was blocked. In addition to his parents' heart disease, Gustafson's
"personal history began with a false-negative cardiac stress test" before his initial bypass surgery. "All of that was far too much to overlook, despite the 'normal' stress test," the report says.
Crevey says a doctor relying too much on tests instead of the patient's own story "is a classic dilemma in medicine."
"The tests are not perfect," he says. "I think the clinician must be super wary of worshiping at the altar of the tests. Unfortunately, that is often the case. They say the test here is negative and therefore you are OK, and that is the end of the story. It certainly happened with Mr. Gustafson."
In Crevey's opinion, based on his review of the record, Gradus-Pizlo's decision was a "serious misdiagnosis."
Many similar stories
Ornato, an expert on emergency room cardiac care, says stories such as Pettry's and Gustafson's represent the difficulties doctors face in diagnosing heart problems.
Over the past six years, studies in the New England Journal of Medicine and other journals have found a heart attack diagnosis is missed in 2% of heart attack patients seeking help in the USA's emergency rooms, 3% in Canada and 6% in the United Kingdom.
"It is the horns of the dilemma. On one hand, there are limitations to the diagnostic tools, and they are very real limitations," Ornato says. "The electrocardiogram is the first screening tool, and it's only going to pick up, on a good day, 70% to 75% of heart attacks."
He says new devices, including an experimental ECG that maps the heart and CT scanners that can look inside of clogged heart arteries, offer new hope for the future.
But he says patients and their advocates must sometimes push doctors who are not listening.
"If something doesn't feel right to them, they have the responsibility to express that," Ornato says. "It's the responsibility of the nurses and physicians to listen."
Prediman Shah, director of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, says better listening might have saved Pettry.
"A 74-year-old is already a high-risk candidate," he says. "Then, having symptoms, that patient deserves a full evaluation in the hospital. No question. If he is admitted and treated, the risk of sudden death is dramatically reduced."
Mary Pettry wishes she had fought for more aggressive treatment of her husband's symptoms.
"You look back, and you know what you should have done," she says. "It was a great loss. He was such a good person to talk to."
Connie Gustafson, who won her own battle with breast cancer, says her husband's fight to survive reminded her "how vigilant you have to be in taking care of yourself in hospitals. The system is very precarious, and it is easy for mistakes to be made."
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
West Wirral family and paramedics overcome by toxic gas fumes
Sue McCann, Birkenhead News
PARAMEDICS rescuing a couple who had been overcome by carbon monoxide gas were themselves hit by the toxic fumes.
Two of the couple’s relatives were also treated at hospital following the incident at the West Wirral home.
Now the family - and their rescuers - are calling on householders to install carbon monoxide alarms in their homes and to have gas and other fossil fuel-burning appliances tested before winter sets in.
Irene Bishton had been feeling unwell for several days and had arranged for her sister, Sheila Ross, to take her to the doctor.
Her husband, Stan Bishton, said: “Irene felt odd when she got up. She was unsteady on her feet, started to stagger and then collapsed. “Fortunately, she had unlocked the front door in readiness for her sister’s arrival before collapsing. “I was still in bed and thought I was all right but when I tried to dial 999 I couldn’t do it. I had been overcome by fumes without realising it.”
Sheila called the ambulance and also phoned for her husband Brian to come and help.
Stan continued: “They initially thought Irene had suffered a stroke and took her to Arrowe Park Hospital.
“But when some of the paramedics began to feel ill, they realised there was a strong possibility of carbon monoxide in the house.”
All four members of the family along with six ambulance crew were treated in hospital.
Brandon Newman, one of the first ambulance paramedics on the scene, said: “We assessed the condition of Mr and Mrs Bishton but quickly realised something was not right when we began to feel ill ourselves.
“I had a gut feeling it could be carbon monoxide poisoning, so we opened all the windows and doors to ventilate the house and called for a second ambulance.
“This was potentially a very serious situation that could have caused the loss of the whole family.”
Paul Ferguson, area director for the North West Ambulance Service, added: “I am proud of the way our operational staff dealt with this incident. Their actions may well have saved the lives of those involved.”
The build-up of carbon monoxide was caused by a blocked flu from the gas central heating boiler.
Stan said: “I hadn’t had the boiler serviced for two years and it didn’t occur to me there might have been a problem.
“Now we’re having the entire system replaced and we’ve bought audible CO alarms. In fact, everyone we’ve told about this has gone out and bought an alarm.
“It has been a very frightening experience.”
http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/wirral-news/local-wirral-news/2008/10/15/west-wirral-family-and-paramedics-overcome-by-toxic-gas-fumes-80491-22029684/
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Woman, 92 Pulls Gun On Paramedics
POSTED: 9:14 am EDT October 5, 2008
UPDATED: 9:16 am EDT October 5, 2008
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A 92-year-old woman surprised some Central Florida paramedics performing a well-being check when she pulled a gun and threatened them.
A friend called emergency services to a home located near the 2700 Block of Wickham Road on Saturday. When the emergency workers arrived, the woman pulled the gun, authorities said.
Melbourne police were called to disarm the woman.
No charges will be filed because of the woman's age and medical condition.
Woman, 92 Pulls Gun On Paramedics
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A 92-year-old woman surprised some Central Florida paramedics performing a well-being check when she pulled a gun and threatened them.
A friend called emergency services to a home located near the 2700 Block of Wickham Road on Saturday.
When the emergency workers arrived, the woman pulled the gun, authorities said.
Melbourne police were called to disarm the woman.
No charges will be filed because of the woman's age and medical condition.
A friend called emergency services to a home located near the 2700 Block of Wickham Road on Saturday.
When the emergency workers arrived, the woman pulled the gun, authorities said.
Melbourne police were called to disarm the woman.
No charges will be filed because of the woman's age and medical condition.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Firefighter Steals Severed Foot From Crash Scene
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Cindy Economou, last years county firefighter of the year who runs a nonprofit horse therapy program for emotionally and mentally challenged people, is the St. Lucie County firefighter accused of taking a Melbourne mans severed foot from an Interstate 95 crash scene a week ago.
Fire District officials on Thursday called a hasty news conference to disclose a firefighter was under investigation for taking Karl Lamberts foot, but refused to identify the person, saying it was a veteran paramedic who trains cadaver dogs, which are used to follow the scent of decomposing human flesh.
On Friday, Fire District officials released a letter dated Thursday to Economou placing her on administrative leave with pay due to an internal investigation of a call to I-95 mile marker No. 118 on September 19, 2008, which you responded, and allegations of inappropriate actions have been raised against you.
Repeated attempts to reach Economou, a firefighter and paramedic since the early 1990s, were unsuccessful.
Lambert, 46, hired attorney Ray Christian, who said it was his understanding Economou wanted the foot to help in dog training. Christian said Lambert is missing a portion of his left leg from six to eight inches below the knee and that the missing portion was returned to St. Marys Medical Center in West Palm Beach five days after the crash, on Sept. 24. Lambert still is in the hospital.
The 19th through the 24th, he was not aware that somebody had absconded with his leg, Christian said.
Christian suspects law enforcement officials started asking questions because body parts typically accompany patients to the hospital.
So when they got to the hospital and he didnt have his leg, I think they started to backtrack and started looking to see what had happened, Christian said. Thats when they realized that someone had taken it.
Christian said when the Florida Highway Patrol returned the leg, it was frozen and apparently couldnt be re-attached. He said only a doctor could determine whether it could have been re-attached if it arrived with Lambert, who was traveling to Fort Lauderdale to pick up flooring material for his brother-in-law at the time.
My understanding, to be fair, is that (Economou) has not really hidden the fact that she has it, Christian said.
Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said about 17 fire district personnel, including Battalion Chief Jim Hall and Deputy Chief Michael Bailey, responded to the crash near the Tradition exit. Neither Hall nor Bailey could be reached Friday.
Chaney couldnt say whether any of these people knew Economou took the foot, citing the fire districts ongoing investigation. None of the other fire district members at the scene have been placed on administrative leave, she said.
Andy Rebmann, whos been involved in search work and K-9 police dog training since 1972 and wrote Cadaver Dog Handbook, said that in training, cadaver dogs are introduced to the scent of decomposition.
In some parts of the country, Rebmann said, the coroner can release bodily fluids or parts to qualified individuals. Some people want to donate their bodies for use in training dogs for human recovery. Donated placentas also can be used, he said.
A firefighter taking a body part for cadaver dog training or other purposes, Rebmann said, would be unusual and also unethical ... unless it was released by the proper authorities.
Economou runs Fully Involved Farms, which provides physically, emotionally and mentally challenged people an opportunity to experience horse riding at no cost to them.
Fire District officials on Thursday called a hasty news conference to disclose a firefighter was under investigation for taking Karl Lamberts foot, but refused to identify the person, saying it was a veteran paramedic who trains cadaver dogs, which are used to follow the scent of decomposing human flesh.
On Friday, Fire District officials released a letter dated Thursday to Economou placing her on administrative leave with pay due to an internal investigation of a call to I-95 mile marker No. 118 on September 19, 2008, which you responded, and allegations of inappropriate actions have been raised against you.
Repeated attempts to reach Economou, a firefighter and paramedic since the early 1990s, were unsuccessful.
Lambert, 46, hired attorney Ray Christian, who said it was his understanding Economou wanted the foot to help in dog training. Christian said Lambert is missing a portion of his left leg from six to eight inches below the knee and that the missing portion was returned to St. Marys Medical Center in West Palm Beach five days after the crash, on Sept. 24. Lambert still is in the hospital.
The 19th through the 24th, he was not aware that somebody had absconded with his leg, Christian said.
Christian suspects law enforcement officials started asking questions because body parts typically accompany patients to the hospital.
So when they got to the hospital and he didnt have his leg, I think they started to backtrack and started looking to see what had happened, Christian said. Thats when they realized that someone had taken it.
Christian said when the Florida Highway Patrol returned the leg, it was frozen and apparently couldnt be re-attached. He said only a doctor could determine whether it could have been re-attached if it arrived with Lambert, who was traveling to Fort Lauderdale to pick up flooring material for his brother-in-law at the time.
My understanding, to be fair, is that (Economou) has not really hidden the fact that she has it, Christian said.
Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said about 17 fire district personnel, including Battalion Chief Jim Hall and Deputy Chief Michael Bailey, responded to the crash near the Tradition exit. Neither Hall nor Bailey could be reached Friday.
Chaney couldnt say whether any of these people knew Economou took the foot, citing the fire districts ongoing investigation. None of the other fire district members at the scene have been placed on administrative leave, she said.
Andy Rebmann, whos been involved in search work and K-9 police dog training since 1972 and wrote Cadaver Dog Handbook, said that in training, cadaver dogs are introduced to the scent of decomposition.
In some parts of the country, Rebmann said, the coroner can release bodily fluids or parts to qualified individuals. Some people want to donate their bodies for use in training dogs for human recovery. Donated placentas also can be used, he said.
A firefighter taking a body part for cadaver dog training or other purposes, Rebmann said, would be unusual and also unethical ... unless it was released by the proper authorities.
Economou runs Fully Involved Farms, which provides physically, emotionally and mentally challenged people an opportunity to experience horse riding at no cost to them.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Maine Paramedic Killed in Ambulance Crash
Sun Journal
TURNER, Maine-- A Wilton paramedic was killed early this morning when an ambulance he was riding in collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of Route 4 and Potato Road, police say.
Allan Parsons, 46, was tending to a patient in the back of the Med-Care ambulance, en route from the Rumford area to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. Parsons died at the scene, according to the Andrsoscoggin County Sheriff's Department.
In a written release, Sheriff Guy Desjardins reported that the ambulance -- emergency lights reportedly flashing -- collided with a black pickup crossing Route 4 from Potato Road to Lone Pine Road at about 3 a.m.
The driver of the ambulance was identified as Arlene Greenleaf, 68, of Bethel. She had to be extricated from the ambulance.
The driver of the truck was identified as Christopher Boutin, 29, of Turner. He was ejected from his vehicle.
Greenleaf and Boutin, along with the patient in the ambulance, were taken to CMMC.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Paramedic Sexually Assaulted Woman In Ambulance
CLEARWATER, FLA–SunStar paramedic Patrick Livingston was arrested by Pinellas County
Posted on Thursday, 3 of July , 2008
Sheriff’s detectives Wednesday afternoon for sexual battery after allegedly assaulting a woman in an ambulance that was taking her to the hospital.
Police said Livingston, 38, of Clearwater allegedly sexually battered a female patient in her mid-20s by touching the victim in a manner which was inappropriate and not medically necessary for her condition. The female was being transported in the ambulance from her home to a local hospital. The incident occurred Thursday night, June 26 and was reported by the victim the following day.
The victim’s name, and any information that could identify the victim is not being released due to the nature of the crime.
Detectives say Livingston was arrested after making certain statements during interviews with them.
Paramedic Sexually Assaulted Woman In Ambulance
CLEARWATER, FLA–SunStar paramedic Patrick Livingston was arrested by Pinellas County Sheriff’s detectives Wednesday afternoon for sexual battery after allegedly assaulting a woman in an ambulance that was taking her to the hospital.
Police said Livingston, 38, of Clearwater allegedly sexually battered a female patient in her mid-20s by touching the victim in a manner which was inappropriate and not medically necessary for her condition. The female was being transported in the ambulance from her home to a local hospital. The incident occurred Thursday night, June 26 and was reported by the victim the following day.
The victim’s name, and any information that could identify the victim is not being released due to the nature of the crime.
Detectives say Livingston was arrested after making certain statements during interviews with them.
Police said Livingston, 38, of Clearwater allegedly sexually battered a female patient in her mid-20s by touching the victim in a manner which was inappropriate and not medically necessary for her condition. The female was being transported in the ambulance from her home to a local hospital. The incident occurred Thursday night, June 26 and was reported by the victim the following day.
The victim’s name, and any information that could identify the victim is not being released due to the nature of the crime.
Detectives say Livingston was arrested after making certain statements during interviews with them.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Medical helicopter crash deaths on record pace
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
The fiery midair collision between two helicopters in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Sunday put this year on pace to be the deadliest ever for air ambulance crashes.
So far in 2008, 16 people have died in emergency medical helicopter crashes, including six people in Sunday's crash. That's two shy of the record 18 deaths in 2004, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
"Unfortunately we are moving toward a record-breaking year here," NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said in a phone interview after traveling to the accident scene Monday. "We are hoping that this accident will sensitize the industry and the regulators to immediately begin a recognition of what is necessary to prevent these accidents."
The NTSB issued a special report in 2006 highlighting issues that had caused an upsurge in emergency helicopter crashes, particularly during nighttime and in poor visibility.
The number of crashes and fatalities fell briefly after the report was issued and the Federal Aviation Administration increased oversight of the industry, but they have risen this year.
An Air Methods helicopter collided with a Classic Helicopters flight about one-quarter mile from the Flagstaff Medical Center at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday. The Air Methods craft was heading north while the other helicopter was going in the opposite direction, Rosenker said. Both were following normal paths to the hospital. The collision occurred in clear weather, Rosenker said.
The victims included firefighter Michael McDonald, 26, who was being taken to the hospital on the Classic flight after being injured near the Grand Canyon. Also dead were pilot Tom Caldwell, 54, and paramedic Tom Clausing, 36. Flight nurse James Taylor, 36, was in critical condition.
All three aboard the other helicopter died: pilot Pat Graham, 50, flight nurse Shawn Shreeve, 36, and patient Raymond Zest, 54.
The collision between two air ambulance helicopters was the first in history, according to NTSB records. Previously, most fatal accidents occurred in poor visibility, often late at night, and NTSB's suggested safety improvements focused on those factors.
Investigators do not know why the pilots apparently failed in one of the most basic concepts of flight safety: to "see and avoid" other aircraft, Rosenker said.
Gary Sizemore, president of the National EMS Pilots Association, said that crews typically have several layers of protection against midair collisions. They often report by radio when approaching a hospital and frequently will announce their presence on a special radio frequency reserved for other helicopters, he said. The two helicopters were not under the supervision of air traffic controllers, Rosenker said.
The collision was recorded on a hospital surveillance camera and the recording will be sent to the NTSB's Washington, D.C., lab for analysis, Rosenker said.
Industry officials defended the safety record of air ambulance flights, saying 500,000 patients are transported safety each year.
"There is a lesson in every accident that needs to be communicated to increase safety," said Christopher Eastlee, government relations manager for the Association of Air Medical Services.
Air-ambulance crews among most likely to die
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Air-ambulance helicopters have the worst fatal crash record in aviation, and their crews are among the most likely to die on the job, an expert told a panel of federal investigators Tuesday.
The rate of fatalities per 100,000 air-ambulance employees over the past 10 years exceeds other dangerous professions such as logging or deep-sea fishing, said Ira Blumen, program director of the University of Chicago Aeromedical Network.
DEADLY YEAR: Medical helicopter crash deaths on record pace
Blumen's comments came during the first day of a hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is examining the industry's burgeoning accidents.
"It's a high-risk occupation. It's alarming," Blumen said.
Relatively few patients have died: 34 out of about 4.3 million transported since 1972, Blumen said. It's unclear why; one possible explanation is that air-ambulance flights spend more time flying without a patient than while carrying one. A typical emergency run involves three trips: one to pick up the patient; another to transport the victim; and a third to return to the helicopter base after the patient is dropped off.
Another reason is that crewmembers outnumber patients three or four to one on flights.
Tearful relatives of recent crash victims demanded that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) take action to stem the death toll.
Steve Ogletree, 44, an airport manager whose 14-month-old granddaughter, Kirstin Blockinger, died in a crash Oct. 15, said he was stunned by how lightly the government regulates the industry compared with airlines. "I say to the FAA, shame on you," Ogletree said.
The FAA has pushed the industry to adopt stricter safety standards but has emphasized voluntary change because it can be accomplished faster than writing new regulations, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.
Since 1972, 264 people have died in air-ambulance crashes, according to Blumen. Nine fatal crashes since December 2007 have killed 35 people. That's the highest death toll in the industry's history.
The accident statistics for the USA stand in stark contrast to Canada, which has not had a fatality since 1977. Unlike most companies in the United States, Canada requires two pilots on each helicopter, and flights are conducted under more rigorous standards for weather, said Sylvain Séguin, a vice president of Canadian Helicopters.
The NTSB hearing is trying to pinpoint what could be driving the recent increase in fatal crashes. Several witnesses raised concerns about whether competition to make the helicopter flights — which can pay as much as $10,000 — could be driving up the accident rates.
"The safety board is concerned that these types of accidents will continue if a concerted effort is not made to improve," NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
999 boss hits out at knife threat
Reporter: Beatriz Ayala
A SENIOR ambulance official has hit out after emergency crews received knife threats
Delwyn Wray, North-West Ambulance Service area director, said: “This was an unacceptable act of violence on defenceless ambulance workers carrying out a valuable service.”
Police were called to an address in Vale Drive, Coldhurst, last Tuesday following reports that an ambulance crew were being threatened.
Officers arrived at the scene to discover that the ambulance crew — a 43-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman — had locked themselves in a downstairs room and were being threatened after responding to an emergency call at the address.
Mr Wray said: “Our ambulance staff save lives on a daily basis and it is saddening that some individuals are subjecting them to violence and abuse.
“This not only places the crews at risk, but also prevents them from doing their jobs.
“Patients’ lives can also be put at risk.”
Last year in the Greater Manchester area alone there were 364 reports of verbal and physical assaults on ambulance staff. Many incidents are still not being reported.
Mr Wray said: “There is an unacceptable level of violence and abuse directed towards staff that we simply will not tolerate and we want to send out a very clear message to anyone who assaults our crews, either verbally or physically, that they face the very real possibility of prosecution.
“On this occasion the crew had a very lucky escape and were not harmed but were left shaken and upset by the incident.
“The police acted swiftly to make an arrest and we will co-operate fully with them in their investigations.”
A 44-year-old man has been charged with false imprisonment, threats to kill and affray.
He will appear before Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, on Thursday.
http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news/14893/999-boss-hits-out-at-knife-threat
A SENIOR ambulance official has hit out after emergency crews received knife threats
Delwyn Wray, North-West Ambulance Service area director, said: “This was an unacceptable act of violence on defenceless ambulance workers carrying out a valuable service.”
Police were called to an address in Vale Drive, Coldhurst, last Tuesday following reports that an ambulance crew were being threatened.
Officers arrived at the scene to discover that the ambulance crew — a 43-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman — had locked themselves in a downstairs room and were being threatened after responding to an emergency call at the address.
Mr Wray said: “Our ambulance staff save lives on a daily basis and it is saddening that some individuals are subjecting them to violence and abuse.
“This not only places the crews at risk, but also prevents them from doing their jobs.
“Patients’ lives can also be put at risk.”
Last year in the Greater Manchester area alone there were 364 reports of verbal and physical assaults on ambulance staff. Many incidents are still not being reported.
Mr Wray said: “There is an unacceptable level of violence and abuse directed towards staff that we simply will not tolerate and we want to send out a very clear message to anyone who assaults our crews, either verbally or physically, that they face the very real possibility of prosecution.
“On this occasion the crew had a very lucky escape and were not harmed but were left shaken and upset by the incident.
“The police acted swiftly to make an arrest and we will co-operate fully with them in their investigations.”
A 44-year-old man has been charged with false imprisonment, threats to kill and affray.
He will appear before Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, on Thursday.
http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news/14893/999-boss-hits-out-at-knife-threat
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
paramedic's bike from church
DailyRecord.co.uk May 28 2008
A PARAMEDIC'S bike with two baskets of life-saving drugs was stolen from inside a church.
The haul included liquid diazepam and an electric shock box used to treat heart attacks.
The theft took place on Monday at St George's West church in Shandwick Place, Edinburgh.
The paramedic was based in the church while roadworks were being carried out in the city.
A police spokesman said: "These drugs should not be taken without prescription."
Friday, January 4, 2008
Woman upset over sirens chases paramedics with rolling pin
SARASOTA - A Sarasota County woman is back home today charged with aggravated assault on EMS personnel.Authorities say 50-year-old Marjorie Kelley was put behind bars after chasing paramedics with a rolling pin at her home on Bahia Vista Street.
Officials say the ambulance showed up to Kelley's house on Wednesday after she called reporting chest pains.
Deputies say Kelley told the fire department not to use their lights and sirens. When they did, she went after three paramedics yelling with a rolling pin.
She is out on bond and charged with three counts of aggravated assault.
Friday, December 21, 2007
FAMILY OF SLAIN NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER DAVID ROSENBAUM SETTLES
FAMILY OF SLAIN NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER DAVID ROSENBAUM SETTLES MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWSUIT WITH HOWARD UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN WASHINGTON D.C.
In Washington D.C., Howard University Hospital and Daniel and Dorothy Rosenbaum, the adult children of deceased New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum, have reached a settlement in the medical malpractice and negligence lawsuit filed against D.C. emergency workers and the hospital.
The 63-year-old reporter, who had just retired after 30 years of working for the Times, was seriously injured during a street robbery in Northwest Washington D.C. on January 26, 2006. Rosenbaum’s son and daughter filed their medical malpractice and negligence lawsuit a year ago last November after the D.C. inspector general’s office found that paramedics, firefighters, police, and hospital personnel failed to treat Rosenbaum.
Emergency workers found Rosenbaum on the sidewalk in a barely conscious state. The report, however, says that they did not realize he was seriously injured. They thought he was drunk. The ambulance he was riding in took Rosenbaum to Howard University Hospital, instead of a hospital located closer to the crime scene, because one of the workers had personal business in that area.
Rosenbaum was placed on a gurney at the hospital where he was left unattended. A doctor did not examine him for over 90 minutes. He was finally given a neurological exam nearly four hours after he arrived at the hospital. He died two days later.
Rosenbaum’s children were also upset that police did not follow up on a lead related to a beating crime that occurred several weeks before their father was assaulted. One of the men convicted of attacking Rosenbaum was also the attacker in the earlier assault.
Rosenbaum’s children say the failures to act by emergency workers, police, and the hospital were partially responsible for their father’s death. Rosenbaum’s children reached a settlement with the District in March. They agreed to forgo financial compensation as long as the city revised the way its emergency medical response system works. The details of the agreement with Howard University Hospital remain confidential.
If someone you love died because of the negligence of a hospital, police, emergency workers, a nursing home staff, or anyone else, you should contact a Maryland or Washington D.C. personal injury lawyer right away.
Hospitals are supposed to administer patients with a reasonable standard of care. Failure to do so is medical malpractice and grounds for a claim or lawsuit.
http://www.marylandaccidentlawblog.com/2007/12/family_of_slain_new_york_times.html
In Washington D.C., Howard University Hospital and Daniel and Dorothy Rosenbaum, the adult children of deceased New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum, have reached a settlement in the medical malpractice and negligence lawsuit filed against D.C. emergency workers and the hospital.
The 63-year-old reporter, who had just retired after 30 years of working for the Times, was seriously injured during a street robbery in Northwest Washington D.C. on January 26, 2006. Rosenbaum’s son and daughter filed their medical malpractice and negligence lawsuit a year ago last November after the D.C. inspector general’s office found that paramedics, firefighters, police, and hospital personnel failed to treat Rosenbaum.
Emergency workers found Rosenbaum on the sidewalk in a barely conscious state. The report, however, says that they did not realize he was seriously injured. They thought he was drunk. The ambulance he was riding in took Rosenbaum to Howard University Hospital, instead of a hospital located closer to the crime scene, because one of the workers had personal business in that area.
Rosenbaum was placed on a gurney at the hospital where he was left unattended. A doctor did not examine him for over 90 minutes. He was finally given a neurological exam nearly four hours after he arrived at the hospital. He died two days later.
Rosenbaum’s children were also upset that police did not follow up on a lead related to a beating crime that occurred several weeks before their father was assaulted. One of the men convicted of attacking Rosenbaum was also the attacker in the earlier assault.
Rosenbaum’s children say the failures to act by emergency workers, police, and the hospital were partially responsible for their father’s death. Rosenbaum’s children reached a settlement with the District in March. They agreed to forgo financial compensation as long as the city revised the way its emergency medical response system works. The details of the agreement with Howard University Hospital remain confidential.
If someone you love died because of the negligence of a hospital, police, emergency workers, a nursing home staff, or anyone else, you should contact a Maryland or Washington D.C. personal injury lawyer right away.
Hospitals are supposed to administer patients with a reasonable standard of care. Failure to do so is medical malpractice and grounds for a claim or lawsuit.
http://www.marylandaccidentlawblog.com/2007/12/family_of_slain_new_york_times.html
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Crash Victim Wrongly Declared Dead Dies
By DAVID SCHOETZ
A Texas woman who was declared dead in a car crash and found to be alive after the emergency medical crew left the scene has since died of her injuries, but San Antonio emergency officials deny they did anything wrong.
Erica Smith, 23, was left unattended in freezing temperatures with a yellow tarp draped over her body for up to two hours early Sunday morning after she was declared dead by the ambulance crew. The two crew members worked instead on two other people who were injured in the car crash before 4 a.m. Those victims were both rushed to a hospital.
Smith, a student at Southwest Texas State University, was discovered to be alive about 6 a.m.by an official from the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office and the ambulance crew was summoned back to the crash site, according to Henry Valadez, a San Antonio newsman who shot footage at the crash.
Smith died Monday afternoon from her wounds, which were described in the police report as "severe head trauma."
When Valadez arrived at the scene, Smith's body had already been covered, he told ABC News. He had filmed the crash scene and left when he heard over the police scanner a call for the emergency personnel to return to the accident immediately.
"One of the police officers who was investigating the scene said, 'You know, it's kind of spooky, but I thought I saw the lady breathing,'" Valadez said. The cameraman said he returned to the scene and watched as emergency personnel finally removed Smith, who was still seated in the car, and transported her to the hospital.
There was no immediate word whether the delay in treating her contributed to Smith's death, but one person who identified himself on Smith's MySpace page as her younger brother said he was filled with "anger and confusion."
Valadez, who used to drive an ambulance in San Antonio, says that he is critical of the fire department's efforts. "They assumed," Valadez said of the premature death determination. "This is where the lawyers are going to eat them alive."
The San Antonio Fire Department did not respond to a call for comment today, but Chief Charles Hood defended his department's response at a news conference Monday, describing the response to the crash as "triage."
"What happened was what happened," Hood said Monday, acknowledging that he did not think any treatment was administered to Smith. "They triaged."
Hood said that an investigation into his department's response will continue, but added that he did not feel like any employees would be punished because of the incident. He also met with Smith's family Monday.
"I can offer sympathy and tell them I'm sorry and give them a hug," Hood said. "I'm very sorry that it happened."
'Two Beers and Two Shots'
Smith was a passenger traveling on a San Antonio highway in a Honda shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday when 28-year-old Jenny Ann Ybarra crossed from the northbound lane into the southbound lane in her silver Pontiac, striking the Honda head-on, according to the San Antonio Police Department crash report. San Antonio emergency medical personnel arrived and determined that Smith was dead, placing a tarp over her body and then administering first aid to the other two injured passengers. More than an hour later, Smith was discovered to be breathing. She was then airlifted to the Brooke Army Medical Center where she died Monday. Ybarra, who allegedly admitted to San Antonio police at the scene that she had "two beers and two shots" before driving, was charged with intoxication assault, a third degree felony in Texas, after videotaped field sobriety tests were conducted.
Ybarra was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center and released on $5,000 bond. Ybarra will likely face additional charges in connection with the crash.
Friends of Smith, who lived in Austin and worked part time at an eatery while attending college, first offered a flood of prayers that the young woman was able to recover from her wounds. "I will continue to pray that the Lord guides the doctors in every decision they make and wraps his arms around your family and friends as they get through every day," one friend Kimberly wrote. "You are so precious and such a fighter." But around 4:30 p.m. Monday, the postings went from words of encouragement to somber words of remembrance. A poster who identified himself as Smith's little brother referred to his sister as his "hero." He wrote, "As the tears poor from my face, the anger and confusion ill (sic) be faced with for the rest of my life are at its peak, i am smiling. … i am blessed to know now who my gardien (sic) angel is. i know that in every decision i make will be you making the right one for me."
Monday, December 10, 2007
Paramedic linked to sex abuse in ambulance
PORTLAND, Ore. - A Portland paramedic was arrested Monday on sex abuse charges after allegedly assaulting a patient during a ride to the hospital over the weekend.Police are concerned because the paramedic, Lannie L. Haszard, was at the center of a similar investigation last spring. But authorities didn't have enough evidence to bring charges in that case.
Haszard, 61, of Vancouver, is facing two counts of first-degree sex abuse.
Police said he responded to a call for medical help in an American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance Saturday. While riding in the back of the ambulance to the hospital, police said, he allegedly sexually assaulted the female patient. The woman called police about the assault after arriving at Legacy Emanuel Hospital.
Detectives investigated the complaint and arrested Haszard Monday morning.
Haszard, who has worked for AMR ambulance in Portland since at least 1999, was scheduled to make his first court appearance on the charges Tuesday afternoon.
Detectives are seeking information from other women who may have received emergency medical care from him while he was working as a paramedic.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Todd Prosser at (503) 823-9320 or Detective Vincent Cui at (503) 823-0466.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/12337806.html
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Thieving paramedic faces jail
A PARAMEDIC faced jail last night after stealing bank cards from a heart attack victim and withdrawing £500.Sick David Wright, 50, rifled through the dead man’s wallet after answering a 999 call, a court heard.
He found a piece of paper with a PIN code and three cards.
But he was caught on a bank’s CCTV still wearing his uniform as he withdrew £500.
He spent it on food, a £200 MP3 player for his wife and £160 for a school trip.
Victim David Denbow, 65, had collapsed dying in his back garden in Sandiacre, Derbys, last June.
Cops treated the death as a suspected murder after the theft was uncovered.
It was “devastating” for Mr Denbow’s family ? who had to re-identify the body, Derby Crown Court heard. But Wright was traced to his work in Stapleford, Notts.
Prosecutor Steven Gosnell said: “Anyone who attends on the scene as a paramedic is to be trusted by society. This was a gross breach of trust.”
Wright, of Ilkeston, Derbys, admitted theft and also pleaded guilty to stealing £40 from another patient in January 2005.
He has been sacked by East Midlands Ambulance Service.
Judge Abbas Mithani bailed Wright but warned a jail term was “likely” when he is sentenced next month.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article25378.ece
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Paramedic and a Volunteer Killed in Ambulance Crash on Long Island
SELIM ALGAR and ED ROBINSON
Courtesy of New York Post
Heidi Behr
Tragic young mom.
May 4, 2005 -- A paramedic and a volunteer were killed yesterday when their ambulance slammed into a tree yesterday on the way to a Long Island hospital. The volunteer, Heidi Behr, 23, of Riverhead was a hard-working single mother who leaves behind a severely disabled 14-month old son, her mother said.
The other victim, William Stone, 30, was a professional paramedic from Rocky Point. A relative said he was engaged to be married.
The Riverhead Town Volunteer Ambulance had picked up a heart patient from Jamesport and was traveling west on Route 25 toward Central Suffolk Hospital in Riverhead at around 1:30 p.m. when the driver attempted to pass a dump truck on the right near the intersection of Church Lane in Aquebogue.
The ambulance driver lost control, and his vehicle left the roadway and crashed into a large tree, which caved in the steel side.
Behr and Stone had been riding in the back of the ambulance
The ambulance driver, Eric Maas, 29, survived as did the patient, Joseph Wowack, 67, who was strapped to a gurney in the back.
Wowack was taken in stable condition to the emergency room at Central Suffolk Hospital in another ambulance,
Behr's tearful mother, June, said her daughter volunteered for the town's volunteer ambulance and worked 13-hour days three days a week at a private ambulance company. She hoped to one day become a trauma nurse.
"She died doing what she loved to do," the mother said. "She saved a man who was having a heart attack."
Behr's son, Jared, suffers from cerebral palsy, and the young mom pushed herself so she could pay his medical bills.
"She was working hard so her son could have a good life," her mother said.
Maas' mother, Barbara, said he was released from the hospital late last night.
"He's fine," she said.
Maas was shaken up by the death of his crewmates, who worked with him for six years, the mother said.
She said her son claimed the dump truck driver "cut him off."
Investigators questioned the dump-truck driver, but no charges were filed.
Wake/Funeral information for Heidi Behr, EMT, Riverhead VAC
Wake: F.J. Mclaughlin Funeral Home
336 Marcy Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901
(631) 727-3388
Thursday, May 5, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday, May 6, 2 p.m. 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
EMS Department Service Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Mass: Saturday, May 7, at 10 a.m.
St. John's Catholic Church
Saint John's Place, Riverhead, NY 11901
Burial in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Cutchogue, NY
A memorial fund has been established for Behr's son. Checks can be sent to the Jared Behr Fund at North Fork Bank, 1080 Rt. 58 in Riverhead, New York 11901, attention to Patty.
Visitation and Funeral information for Paramedic William Stone
Visitation/EMS and Firematic Service: Bryant Funeral Home
411 Old Town Rd., Setauket
Friday, May 6, 7-10 p.m.
Prayer Service: Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the funeral home.
According to NY Newsday.com, Stone's family has requested that instead of flowers, donations be made to the William Anthony Stone Memorial Foundation, in care of the Central Islip-Hauppauge Volunteer Ambulance Corps, 4 Pineville Rd., Central Islip, NY 11722.
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