Legal Issues
The legal issues topic contains news and information about legal issues affecting EMS personnel, agencies or departments. Find the latest news from personnel misconduct, to disciplinary and harassment cases, to malpractice lawsuits, as well as advice to prevent legal action with EMS training, documentation and management.
The top 5 golden rules for making your goals and resolutions a reality
If you don’t know that prone positioning can cause great bodily harm or death in some patients, you don’t belong in EMS
Teaching points from the ‘malpractice or murder’ case – Part 1: Action steps for EMS leaders
EMS records show Nathanial Rhodes was taken to the police station instead of the hospital after a vehicle crash, where body cam footage shows him collapsing
Jeremiah Ray opened the door of an ambulance stopped at a red light and stabbed a paramedic who tried to keep him outside
Sgt. J.T. Foster said the state was asked to take over the investigation of Rodney Gilmer’s death because many staff members had a relationship with him
Stephen Greene’s family is suing after two dispatchers turned down the volume and missed 13 emergency calls made by rehabilitation staff members
Officials said the man had been calm when transported to the hospital, but abruptly jumped back in the ambulance and drove away when they arrived
Technology is advancing exponentially and those EMS agencies who cannot adapt their employee engagement will be left behind in hiring and retaining millennials and members of Gen-Z
The lawsuit alleges paramedic Danny Tinnel was negligent when the EMS vehicle he was driving while responding to a call crashed into the Dyer family’s truck
Isaiah Smith is facing charges after police said he made six false 911 calls over a period of more than a month
Aaron English was accused of groping a teenage patient in 2017, but he wasn’t charged until another teen came forward with allegations of inappropriate behavior
Terry Ramsay allegedly suffered a heroin overdose and struck a New Hanover Regional Medical Center ambulance transporting a patient
Body camera video captured tense moments from Austin-Travis County EMS as they discussed the patient’s injuries and debated whether to proceed with treatment
Becoming an effective public speaker can elevate the success of your fire department, EMS crew or community paramedicine program
Police said AMR paramedics saw Clarence Pate assaulting a woman in a vehicle, and one was assaulted by Pate after getting out to help
Fire officials said the man was arrested after destroying a flag that was “proudly displayed” on the back of an ambulance
The suit claims cruise ship operators demonstrated “shocking and appalling negligence and callous disregard for human life”
Clinton Walker was fired after an internal investigation concluded he had “unwavering loyalty” to the Outlaws, long considered Florida’s dominant motorcycle gang
Guardian Flight officials said they contracted aerial surveys of the coastline in the plane’s last known location
Jawwaad Tasawwur Robinson first sparked a fire after crashing a vehicle into a tree, and was receiving medical treatment when he stole a fire department truck
Michael Janusek allegedly misappropriated money from the Chicago Heights Fire Department’s foreign fire tax fund
Our co-hosts discuss a new bill that recently passed Virginia’s Senate to allow EMS providers the option to conceal carry on the job
Officials approved a $75,000 settlement for a claim filed by the son of the deceased man Bellingham Fire Department staff practiced endotracheal intubations on
Dash cam footage shows semi-truck driver Michael Mack ramming an ambulance that had its lights and sirens on off the highway
Robert Reasonover and Tyler Rathert allegedly logged into AMR’s accounting system and claimed hours they never worked
The lawsuit claims workers waited about 25 minutes before calling 911 after Thomas Becker fell ill, even though there’s a fire station about a half-mile away
Investigations commissioned by Hennepin Healthcare found that its paramedics and research staff acted appropriately in its ketamine study of agitated patients
Five Mad River Twp. Fire/EMS Department responders resigned after firefighter-paramedic Michael Newkirk claimed leaders were intimidating and hostile
Lambton EMS paramedics Blake Smith and Mark Duffy helped defuse an “extremely violent” scene where one officer was injured
The city of Seattle agreed to pay $65.75 million to the family of Brooke Taylor, marking the largest individual personal injury settlement in the city’s history
Police said the Calgary EMS crew was loading a patient into an ambulance when a vehicle struck one of the paramedics
FDNY EMT Ryan Walsh testified in a first-degree assault trial and gave a graphic description of the scene inside the building where the attack occurred in 2016
