What to Do When You Can’t Physically Help By Skip Kirkwood, Chief, Emergency Medical Services Division, Wake County EMS Regrettably, the image and reputation of FDNY-EMS, as well as public confidence in the people who are supposed to protect and serve New Yorkers, has been damaged. How badly damaged is hard to tell. I saw today another story about an off-duty FDNY EMT or paramedic who did CPR on a hospital police officer and successfully resuscitated him. Unfortunately the commercial media will probably emphasize the controversial over the successful. Clearly, there is not much that a couple of EMTs assigned to Dispatch, on a break with no medical equipment on hand, could have done to help the woman — and since her problem was bad enough to lead to her death, she may have been beyond any help whatsoever. However, should an EMS provider ever find themselves in such a situation, you can still do what you can to help within the governing law, rules, and regulations. Even if that is limited, ACT like you care, and treat the sick or injured person like you would want a close family member to be treated in similar circumstances. A family’s response is 95 percent perception, and you can control the perception. As a senior EMS officer, I would certainly tell the community that we expect when members of our service are asked for help, they respond in an appropriate professional manner, and remain on scene until on-duty units arrive. I would also make sure that the rest of the organization supports that; for example, if the last guy who stopped to help a citizen got written up or otherwise disciplined for returning late, that would send a mixed message and would be bad management. |
By Deepti Hajela
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The emergency medical technicians accused of refusing to help a dying pregnant woman were never asked to examine her or told the extent of her condition, their lawyer said Thursday.
Attorney Douglas Rosenthal said his clients were only asked to summon an ambulance on Dec. 9 when they were taking a break in a Brooklyn eatery. He said Jason Green and Melisa Jackson never saw Eutisha Rennix, who was in the back of the Au Bon Pain store, and that other employees didn’t seem overly concerned about her condition.
“There was no apparent panic,” Rosenthal said in a statement.
Witnesses have said the EMTs told workers to call 911, then left when they were asked to help the 25-year-old pregnant woman. Rennix, who also was the mother of a 3-year-old boy, died at a hospital shortly afterward. The cause of death has not been determined. Her baby did not survive the premature birth.
Rosenthal said Jackson, a four-year veteran, was asked by an employee to summon an ambulance because the six-months-pregnant Rennix was showing asthmatic symptoms and was experiencing abdominal pain.
Rosenthal said Jackson radioed for an ambulance and she and Green, a six-year veteran, stayed until they knew help was coming.
“They were thanked by the employee for their response,” he said.
Rosenthal said “protocol, training and regulations” also kept the two emergency workers from intervening further because they didn’t have any equipment or medications and worked as dispatchers rather than in the field.
Green and Jackson have been suspended without pay. They are also under investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office and the state Department of Health, which oversees EMT training.
A union covering emergency workers has said that all dispatchers are required to be field-trained EMTs or paramedics in order to be more effective at their jobs, and are capable of getting involved in emergency situations. The New York Fire Department says all members take an oath to help others whenever emergency medical care is needed.
Cynthia Rennix said the story doesn’t match what she was told by her daughter’s coworker and supervisor.
“They were well aware of the seriousness of her being on the floor. They should have at least looked to see what was going on,” she said Thursday. “That’s no excuse for it.”
Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Rennix’s body would be exhumed and an autopsy performed. The results will be released to authorities investigating the case.