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.
Response to these medical emergencies should focus on intervention and treatment of the patient
Ken Bouvier, NREMT, offers low-cost tools and tips to improve incident command responses to emergencies
Conference season is now back into full swing; make the most of your time
Police said Cleveland EMS refused to send an ambulance because the victim drove across the city line
Kirsty Sharman pleaded guilty to the public order offense and was fined over $166 for leaving the note and swearing at paramedics
Paramedic Edwin Tweedy said he was passed over by the department for a spot on the rescue medic squad because of his age
Federal prosecutors said North East Mobile Health Services will settle to resolve charges that it billed Medicare for non-emergency transportation of patients
Samantha Rivera was sentenced to eight months of house arrest and five years of probation for using fake experience and credentials to get a nursing job
The video shows nurses failing to help administer aid to James Dempsey as he pleaded for help and laughing as they struggled to get his oxygen machine to work
The investigation into Hart to Heart Transportation Services was launched after a whistleblower filed a lawsuit alleging they falsified Medicare claims
The EMT is accused of sexually assaulting his colleague while she was passed out in the back of the ambulance
OSHA said that it opened a case looking into conditions at Brewster Ambulance after receiving a complaint about conditions affecting employee health and safety
What will you do to improve prehospital medicine and your community?
Mary Black Health System-Gaffney no longer wants to provide free EMS services, but Cherokee County said they are breaking a contract
H.B. 1293 would make an assault on an EMS provider or firefighter a class 6 felony, punishable by up to two years in prison
Police said they had to use a TASER to subdue David Parsons after he began attacking a paramedic in the back of an ambulance
“I couldn’t give a s--- if the whole street collapsed now move your van from outside my house,” the note read
Leland Brown II died after it took 19 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to treat him for what was determined to be cardiac arrest
An advance-practice nurse at the center said Melissa Tackett had falsified her signature on two scripts for the opioids
A witness said she saw the suspect launch the ambulance off a boat ramp and jump out just before it hit the water
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer that would allow them to remove Jose Martin Duran Romero if he’s released from local custody
Jamie Marquardt said in a lawsuit that the posts appeared on his Facebook page after spending a night talking down a suicidal man he knew by the name “Donnie”
Alecia Malpiede said she used a lighter to set the house on fire, and then also tried to set fire to the ambulance she was riding in
Bruce Diamond, a homeless man, was arrested after throwing a rock at the ambulance while it was parked at a curb
Police said Jose Duran Romero’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, and he had bloodshot, glassy eyes at the time of the crash
The lawsuit alleges that The Recovery Center and four of its owners defrauded Medicaid by claiming it offered patients medical advice
Two Charlotte-area counties became the latest local governments to join a massive federal lawsuit against the producers and distributors of opioids
The 12 deaths have been ruled homicides but no one has been charged; a criminal investigation is ongoing
A complaint filed last year said AmeriCare submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare and TRICARE for non-emergency ambulance transports
Three Just Culture behavior categories provide a launching point for action steps and EMS quality improvement
Selecting the wrong candidates as FTOs or undermining their authority results in ineffective paramedic training, impacting turnover, quality of care and job performance
Joseph Comstock was sentenced to two years and six months in federal prison as part of a plea agreement
Gerald and Dorothy Dennis were arraigned on 189-count criminal complaints and charged with theft and forgery
