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Minn. officials approve $295K settlement over medics misdiagnosing stroke patient

The St. Paul city attorney said an internal investigation was closed with no discipline

US-NEWS-ST-PAUL-SETTLE-LAWSUIT-AFTER-1-SP.jpg

The back of a St. Paul Fire Department ambulance photographed Tuesday, April 15, 2014.

Pioneer Press: John Autey/TNS

By Mara H. Gottfried
Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The St. Paul City Council approved a $295,000 settlement Wednesday to a man who alleged medical malpractice in a lawsuit against the city.

Ahmed Ali, now 86, said firefighters who responded to a 911 call in 2022 disregarded “obvious signs” that he’d had a stroke and told him the emergency room was full of COVID patients. The city’s firefighters are paramedics and emergency medical technicians and respond to emergency medical calls in St. Paul.

The lawsuit highlighted St. Paul medics reporting manifestations of Parkinson’s disease and obtaining a refusal from a patient who can’t read or speak English

Ali continued to have strokes through the night and his son took him to the emergency room the next morning, his lawsuit said.

“The paramedics’ failure to get Ali to the emergency room, where (medication) could be administered, resulted in permanent damage to Ali’s brain and body,” the lawsuit alleged.

An internal investigation was closed with no discipline, according to St. Paul City Attorney Lyndsey Olson . The city’s staff “followed policy and protocol,” and they reached a settlement with Ali “to avoid the expense and uncertainty of continued litigation,” Olson said.

The settlement was on Wednesday’s City Council consent agenda, which is made up of items that are approved without separate discussion.

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