Cancellation of Paramedic Unit Prompts California Suit for Wrongful Death

The family of a man who died in 2013 has filed suit against a California fire department, a fire chief and others who the family claims are to blame for the man’s death. The complaint includes allegations that a Yermo Fire Department captain cancelled a responding ALS ambulance long before he arrived on scene because he believed the patient was just a “constant complainer” with “never anything wrong with him”, and then feigned an inability to locate the proper address even though he had been there several times in the recent past.

The incident occurred on November 8, 2013, when Diane Merchant of Yermo called 911 for her husband, Larry Thomas. Thomas had a history of congestive heart failure and was experiencing difficulty breathing. Cal Fire dispatched three agencies, the Yermo Fire Department, Fire Station 402 from the Yermo Annex of the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, and Desert Ambulance.

According to the complaint:

• On November 8, 2013 Captain [Sean] Cloughen together with two other firefighter trainees, were on-duty.
• At about 4:13:22 Diane Merchant… called 911 [and all 3 agencies were dispatched].
• Fire Station 402 is equipped with an Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedic unit ambulance. Yermo Fire Department does not even have a Basic Life Support unit.
• Nonetheless, upon receiving the call Captain Cloughen ordered Cal Fire dispatch to cancel out Fire Station 402.
• At 4:16:04 [Cal Fire dispatch] called Fire Station 402 to cancel their call.
• Diane and Larry’s home is about half a mile from the Yermo Fire Station.
• In July and August of that year Captain Cloughen made two emergency trips to Larry Thomas’s house. Captain Cloughen was clearly familiar with Larry Thomas’s house.
• Nonetheless, at 4:21:11 Captain Cloughen called the “911” dispatch and told her that he could not find the home in question.
• The dispatch operator… then called Diane back and told her that Yermo Fire Department was having difficulty finding her house.
• Diane then, while on the phone with [the dispatcher] told her that she sees the Yermo Fire Department pickup truck and was waving to them while standing in the driveway. At that point Captain Clougen drove away from the house, prompting Diane to tell [the dispatcher] “they are now driving away”.
• Captain Cloughen eventually turned around and arrived at the house at 4:24:23, nine minutes after being dispatched. The drive from the Yermo Fire Department to Diane and Larry’s house at 45 mph is about 40 seconds.
• The Yermo Fire Department and Diane and Larry’s house are both on the same road and the road between them is straight and level, with not [sic] intersections or stop signs in between.
• Captain Cloughen is not trained nor certified as a firefighter.
• Captain Cloughen entered the house. Larry was conscious and breathing.
• Captain Cloughen left the bag-valve-mask (“BVM”) in the oxygen bag without using it on Larry. Then, Larry stopped breathing and lost consciousness. Captain Cloughen did nothing.
• Gary Yearsely, another firefighter who is a certified EMT arrived at the house. He walked in through the front door, through the front room and into the bedroom where Captain Cloughen was sitting on the bed with Larry laying next to him.
• Captain Cloughen was holding Larry’s wrist saying he could not get a pulse and that he was talking to him just a minute ago when one of the trainees [who responded with Captain Cloughen] said it had been more like five minutes ago.
• Yearsley checked for a pulse and breathing but found neither.
• Yearsley told Captain Cloughen to start compressions and told one of the trainees Elser to radio Cal-Fire to recall Fire Station 402. Yearsley then used the BVM with oxygen and the automatic-external-defibrillator (“AED”).
• After the first round of compressions Larry’s heart started to beat and he opened his eyes and looked at Yearsley. At that time Larry’s beats were 50 bpm, then his heart slowed to a stop.
• Yearsley then hooked up the AED and gave Larry the first round of shock. Larry’s heart started again but then started to slowly stop again. After it stopped again and while the AED was assessing the patient to shock him again, it advised not to shock so they started CPR again.
• At 4:37 Desert Ambulance #6 arrived on scene and took charge of the patient and the scene. They put Larry on a long board and continued CPR.
• At 4:42 Fire Station 402 arrived on scene. Shortly thereafter Larry was taken to Barstow Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
• Plaintiffs are informed and believe that in or about 2006, [Yerma Fire Chief] Bob Smith began instructing the YFD firefighters to cancel ALS paramedic units from both Desert Ambulance and Fire Station 402.
• The cancellation of the ALS paramedic units became an unwritten official policy and practice of YFD.
• Over the course of time several firefighters with EMT certificates and/or licenses, including Gary Yearsley, Jeffrey Stumbaugh and Chris Chavez complained to [then fire chief] Bob Smith about this practice telling him that is was extremely unsafe and placed patients in grave bodily danger. Bob Smith ignored them.
• Eventually, Bob Smith terminated each firefighter who complained, including Yearsley, Stumbaugh and Chavez.
• Bob Smith’s cancellation policy had grave consequences even before Larry’s death. Fore [sic] example, in 2009 Bob Smith cancelled a Desert Ambulance ALS unit en route to a motorcycle accident scene. The motorcyclist died of her injuries without the needed assistance of proper emergency medical treatment. The victim’s family never knew of the cancellation and therefore never sued.
• [I]n September 2013 Jeffrey Stumbaugh [who is Thomas’ son-in-law], who was at the time the fire captain of YFD, complained to Bob Smith that Sean Cloughen, a firefighter at the time, was engaged in inappropriate behavior with a high school student working as an intern at the fire station.
• One evening following a Yermo community meeting, Bob Smith called Jeffrey into his office to talk to him about the recent allegations against Sean Cloughen. When Jeffrey entered the office the high school [girl]’s father was sitting on a chair. Bob Smith said the [sic] Jeffrey, “so you have a claim that Sean Cloughen was acting inappropriately with this man’s daughter, right?” Jeffrey said yes. Bob Smith turned to the father, who then said “I fully trust Sean.” Then Bob Smith told Jeffrey that the whole this [sic] is put to rest, there was no issue. Finally, Bob Smith said, “oh, Jeffrey you can turn in you equipment tomorrow you will no longer be needed.” And just like that he was terminated.
• A month or so later, Captain Cloughen arrived at Diane and Larry’s house at 4:17 a.m. in the morning when he noticed Jeffrey’s car parked outside. Instead of driving to the house as quickly as possible in order to assist Larry who was having difficulty breathing, Captain Cloughen first cancelled the Fire Station 402 ALS paramedic unit, took his time and then lied about not being able to find the house while being parked directly in front of it.
• Plaintiffs are informed and believe that following Larry’s death Sean Cloughen told Chris that he cancelled Fire Station 402 because Larry was a constant complainer and that there was never anything wrong with him.
• Sean Cloughen walked around telling people that he was the “grim reaper” because he killed Larry Thomas.

The complaint goes on to make some additional allegations, including referring to Thomas’ death as “murder”. Filed in San Bernadino County Superior Court it names the Yermo Community Services District, the Yermo Fire Department, Fire Chief Bob Smith, Captain Sean Cloughen, Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency, Reza Vaezaziz, Paul Ray, and 30 additional unnamed defendants.

The complaint includes four counts:

Count 1: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 deprivation of life without due process (deliberate indifference)

Count 2: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 deprivation of life without due process (failure to train/Monell claim)

Count 3: Failure to Perform Mandatory Duty – Gross Negligence/Bad Faith

Count 4: Failure to Perform Mandatory Duty – Gross Negligence

Attorneys for the defendants have denied the allegations in the complaint, claim their clients are entitled to immunity from liability, and have asked the court to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted.

Here is a copy of the complaint: Yermo