By Ludmilla Lelis
The Orlando Sentinel
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — After a jury decided that a Volusia County ambulance service should pay $10 million for the premature birth of boy in one of its vehicles, paramedics across the nation wondered: Could they too be held liable for their most basic duty of transporting a patient?
“We go wherever we are called. We go without question,” said A.J. Heightman, editor in chief at the Journal of Emergency Services, a leading national publication for the emergency medical field. “If this verdict stands, every paramedic is going to second-guess themselves: ‘Am I going to get caught like EVAC did?’”
That fallout, and the financial liability to EVAC ambulance service and possibly Volusia County, will be key questions as the verdict faces legal challenges.
Full Story: Whopper verdict could change way paramedics react to calls