The Monterey County Herald
Copyright 2008 The Monterey County Herald
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. — A bill moving through California’s legislative process would go a long way to restoring confidence in the emergency medical technicians who provide lifesaving services throughout the state.
It would, for the first time, establish a formal system of background checks for new EMTs and a central registry that fire departments and ambulance companies would use to determine whether prospective employees are properly certified.
It should have happened long ago.
The legislation, AB 2917 by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, is the result of negotiations between the California Professional Firefighters Association, the governor’s office and local government agencies, which now have considerable responsibility for overseeing EMTs without a corresponding measure of authority.
The legislation was prompted by horror stories up and down the state about wayward or unqualified EMTs, some of whom never would have been hired if local agencies such as Monterey County’s Emergency Medical Services operation had felt empowered to perform meaningful background checks.
Among the worst of the tales cited in support of Torrico’s bill is that of scuba diver Mollie Yaley, who stopped breathing off a Monterey beach in 2002 and died following unsuccessful treatment by a two-man ambulance crew apparently high on heroin or other drugs.
The crew’s EMT was working for American Medical Response, which had the county ambulance contract at the time, even though he had a long arrest record and a history of drug use documented in readily available court records. Remarkably, he remained certified a full year after Monterey police caught him breaking into an American Medical Response office to steal syringes. Monterey County officials insisted that they had no authority to investigate him because no one had filed an official complaint. The Torrico bill would eliminate such excuses.
Unlike EMTs, who are certified by county governments, the paramedic involved in botching Yaley’s treatment was licensed by the state, which was empowered to investigate when his drug use became the stuff of Herald headlines. Even so, he continued working for several months afterward.
Torrico’s bill isn’t perfect in that it provides a special layer of confidentiality for records of investigations involving EMTs also employed as firefighters. That clause is an apparent extension of the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights and Police Officers Bill of Rights, which create special confidentiality for public safety officers. Unfortunately, it isn’t clear whether the section of the bill bestowing confidentiality would also apply to EMTs who are not firefighters.
Before the full Legislature approves the bill, it should be made clear that public disclosure will be required following investigations involving EMTs not already subject to the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights. That would provide public access to important information about employees of the private firm now contracted to provided ambulance service in most of Monterey County.
A similar bill was vetoed last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who explained that it did not require enough public disclosure. It remains to be seen whether he will maintain that concern about a bill his office helped draft.
As it stands, the type of background checks required of shopping mall security guards is not required for emergency medical technicians who administer serious drugs, race to accident scenes, who come into our homes to treat our families. Torrico’s bill would fix that. If someone will fix the public disclosure language, the Legislature should enact it without additional delay.