Ambulance switch delays DC patient care
Officials: 2 ambulance crews may have discussed transport amongst themselves while injured 93-year-old woman waited for help
By Audrey Barnes
My Fox DC
WASHINGTON — Could an ambulance switch have kept an elderly woman with a head injury from getting to the hospital in the quickest way possible?
That is what D.C. Fire and EMS officials are investigating after learning that two ambulance crews may have actually discussed the transport amongst themselves while a 93-year-old woman who was injured in a fall waited for help.
"We dispatch our closest unit to the emergency," says Assistant Chief For Operations Timothy Gerhart.
But instead of driving directly to the woman's home, sources tell FOX 5 Ambulance 6 drove past her house to Ambulance 29's station and insisted they transport her instead.
"Ambulance 6 was dispatched, and currently we're looking into why Ambulance 29 was consequently dispatched to the emergency," Gerhart says.
For ambulances to switch assignments like that, EMS officials say the Office of Unified Communications would need to be notified, as well as records updated, among other things. All of that adds to the response time.
Sources say switching out those two ambulances caused a 15 minute delay in getting this 93-year-old woman with a head injury to the hospital. Fortunately, she survived and is now recovering at home after a five-day hospital stay.
New York Times Editor David Rosenbaum wasn't so lucky. He was injured in a robbery, but the EMS crew misdiagnosed him, and transported him to the hospital as a low priority patient. He died two days later.
D.C. Fire and EMS has been under fire ever since to revamp its system so that seriously injured people get to the hospital in less than seven minutes.
"We expect our emergency vehicles to get on the scene as quickly as possible when they're dispatched to a response, and that's why we're investigating it very actively and we will take appropriate action," Gerhart says.
Gerhart says GPS tracking data from the ambulances is key, but he says it's too soon to say if any discrepancies were uncovered.
It is also too early to say if the delayed response has hampered the 93-year-old woman's recovery.
Reprinted with permission of My Fox DC
Marty Munro Friday, August 17, 2012 2:16:56 PM A crew misdiagnosed? I'm pretty sure paramedics aren't allowed to diagnose. Maybe they went to the hospital low priority due to the patient's presentation and vital signs. Or maybe we should just transport everyone at a high priority and then deal with all the accidents associated with it and law suits and injured workers. Then everyone will say "why did those stupid ambulance drivers transport on a high priority for that?". We are always wrong as medics anyway. 
Michael Mahuda Friday, August 17, 2012 2:23:50 PM Your so angry now-a-days. I miss calm, cool & collective Model Munro... Marty Munro Saturday, August 18, 2012 6:45:30 AM I'm not angry. I just don't like ignorant articles regardless of what it is about 
John Klimowski Sunday, August 19, 2012 4:00:27 PM EMS does diagnose patients! It's called a field or working diagnosis. This is one of the most basic things you learn in basic EMT class. You have to come up with a working diagnosis to know how to properly treat/transport a patient. You're not going to give every patient nitro or albuterol for a broken foot. Sometimes running high priority can only aggravate a condition by putting undue stress on the patient. The field/working diagnosis changes constantly as symptoms present themselves. EMS and Ambulances have changed a lot and are no longer taxi's to the morgue.
Bill Anderson Friday, August 17, 2012 5:37:33 PM Both crews should be fired, along with the officer in the station. The crews for deliberately delaying the call and the officer for allowing it to happen. Totally stupid. Jake Stein Saturday, August 18, 2012 8:37:13 PM No excuses for this.
Marty, you need to review the Rosenbaum case before making statements that make you look stupid. If you actually knew what the case was about you might control your anger about something you obviously do not know anything about. 
Justin M Perry Sunday, August 19, 2012 6:48:39 PM All I can say is wait for all of the facts before forming the lynch mob. 
Eric Rousell Sunday, August 19, 2012 7:09:21 PM Lol, people's comments on this are classic. And define "head injury." She probably didn't have a bleed if she only spent a couple days in the hospital. Jake Stein Thursday, August 23, 2012 5:35:14 AM Read the article. She spent 5 days in the hospital...not two. How do you know how serious a head injury is for an elderly person right away? Seriously you must think all patients are bullcrap and are only in EMS for yourself with no interest in providing good care for the patient.
Mark Bonasso Monday, August 20, 2012 10:35:37 AM Sounds to me like the crew on Ambulance 6 was tired of being jacked around by the crew on Ambulance 29 and did a drive-by of their station and decided to stop in and ask them about it. Yep its the same in every big city EMS system. Crews sticking it to other crews. Sometimes it just has to be dealt with.
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