Emergency Communications

Twice Fired New Mexico Firefighter Sues County

A former Albuquerque firefighter who was fired for hanging up on a frantic 911 caller in 2015 because the caller swore at him, is filing suit against the Bernalillo County Fire Department who hired and then abruptly fired him. Matthew Sanchez was fired by the Albuquerque Fire Department shortly after the shooting death of 17 year-old Jaydon Chavez-Silver.

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Families of Houston LODDs Sue Motorola and Scott

The families of three Houston firefighters killed in the 2013 Southwest Inn fire have filed another wrongful death lawsuit, this time naming Motorola and Scott Safety as defendants. The suit filed Monday accuses Motorola and Scott of negligence, gross negligence and product liability for selling products that are dangerously defective and contain design defects.

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Albuquerque Fire Investigating Why Dispatcher Hung Up on Caller

The Albuquerque Fire Department is investigating a firefighter who allegedly hung-up on a frantic 911 caller because the caller swore at him while CPR instructions were being given. Albuquerque firefighter Matthew Sanchez was working in the dispatch center when a caller reported that Jaydon Chavez-Silver, a 17 year old high school student, had been shot.

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Refusal AMA Forms in Foreign Languages

Today’s burning question: Could a medic who fails to obtain an informed refusal from a patient who does not speak English be liable? Could the fire department be held liable for not providing refusal forms in other languages?

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Colorado Suit Over EMS Failure Prompts Questions

A recent headline about a wrongful death lawsuit in Colorado caught my eye in part because it appeared to involve an EMS incident gone wrong and in part because it appeared to involve a hospital accused of callously closing its ER after hours without warning area residents. The truth appears to be neither. A grieving widow is certainly entitled to seek answers to her questions. I too am left with questions...

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YCMTSU Alabama: Medical Helicopter Cancellation

A man who was critically injured in an ATV accident in Alabama in 2013 has filed suit in federal court claiming a fire chief and a dispatcher were in part responsible his injuries because they cancelled a medical evacuation helicopter. That concludes the only normal sounding part of the complaint that Brian Lomanack filed Monday in US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Among his shocking YCMTSU allegations...

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County Dispatch Center Sued Over Fire Death

A fatal fire in Madison, Wisconsin in 2013 has prompted a wrongful death lawsuit against a county dispatch center that allegedly took nearly four minutes to dispatch the call. The family of Chris Williams filed suit last week claiming that Dane County and its 911 center bear responsibility for his death on October 16, 2013.

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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 a “constant complainer” ...

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Las Vegas Fire Questioned After Stabbing Death

Las Vegas Fire Rescue is coming under fire for not requesting a private ambulance company, AMR, to respond to a reported stabbing across from an AMR base two weeks ago. Despite the media saying a lawsuit has been filed… there ...

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