As members of the profession who are tasked with protecting the health and welfare of the public, EMS providers historically were unrecognized for their work when compared to their higher profile firefighter and police officer colleagues.
Perhaps the most painful evidence is rooted in the ultimate sacrifice — death in the line of duty. Unlike our public safety counterparts, surviving families of EMS providers killed on the job rarely receive government-sponsored death benefits.
Fortunately, we are seeing a change. Passage of the Dale Long Emergency Medical Service Providers Protection Act in 2013 paved the way for death benefits at the federal level.
Virginia and North Carolina have enacted legislation that awards death benefits to EMS providers. Most recently, the Kentucky legislature approved a measure to do the same for its EMS providers.
But not all EMS providers are eligible. EMS providers who work at private agencies that are contracted to the government to provide 911 services are excluded from the Kentucky bill. Why is that?
Last I checked it didn’t matter whether you were a public, private or volunteer provider. If you were struck by a car at the scene of a motor vehicle crash, the care that you were providing a patient was equal. Likewise, your chances of dying were equal.
So how is it justified that death benefits are unequal?
I don’t think it’s a cost issue. Fortunately, EMS provider line of duty deaths are relatively rare. Though always tragic, very few families will receive this benefit.
I’m guessing it’s more of the public versus private conflict that plagues our industry and raises its ugly head now and then. Politics are what they are, but don’t let them stand in the way of providing some small measure of comfort to a family whose loved one suddenly disappears from their lives physically, emotionally and financially after dying on the job. It’s cruel and unfair.
