EMS

Colorado Medics Indicted for Manslaughter

Two paramedics from Aurora Fire Rescue are among five people indicted in the death of Elijah McClain in 2019. Lieutenant Peter Cichuniec, medic Jeremy Cooper, and three police officers were charged with one count of manslaughter and one count of criminally negligent homicide.

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Mass Firefighter Ordered Reinstated by Civil Service Commission

A Bourne firefighter who was terminated in 2018 over comments he made on a medical run, will be reinstated following a Massachusetts Civil Service Commission ruling. Thomas Swartz was fired on August 22, 2018 following an investigation into comments he made to an 18-year-old patient and the patient’s mother.

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Minnesota Medics Entitled to Qualified Immunity on Excessive Force Claim

The US Eighth Circuit has joined a growing number of circuit courts holding that fire and EMS personnel who restrain a combative patient should not be evaluated under the Fourth Amendment excessive-force analysis that applies to police officers. Rather, fire and EMS personnel are “acting as medical responders, not as law enforcement officers,” and as such may be acting in an objectively reasonable manner when administering a sedative to a patient.

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Nevada Firefighter Charged in Wife’s Overdose Death

A Nevada firefighter is facing second-degree murder charges following the overdose death of his wife. Tiffany Slatsky died on February 23, 2020 from a combination of cocaine, ecstasy and morphine. Her husband, Christopher Candito was a firefighter-paramedic with the city of North Las Vegas at the time.

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Dallas Fire Sued Over Death of Intoxicated Man in Police Custody

Two firefighters from Dallas Fire Rescue have been named in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died while in police custody. Juan Segovia died on June 30, 2019 after being found unresponsive and transported by Dallas Police to the City Detention Center, referred to in the complaint as the “drunk tank.”

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Lost Finger Prompts Suit Against LA County Fire

A man who suffered the traumatic amputation of a finger on July 4, 2020, has filed suit against the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center claiming they “negligently misplaced and lost” the finger. Leon Henry Gibson III filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging “professional negligence.”

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Oklahoma FD Sued Over Meth-Related Death

The father of a Oklahoma man who died after ingesting methamphetamine, has filed suit against a number of agencies including the responding fire department, claiming each was somehow responsible for his son’s death. Carl Adams filed suit against the Sperry Police Department, Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department, St. John's Health System, Inc., and the Country Corner Fire Department.

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Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Orleans Fire Rescue

The estate of a 52-year-old Cape Code man who died in 2016, has filed a wrongful death suit against the Town of Orleans alleging EMS personnel discontinued resuscitation efforts prematurely, and submitted “false and misleading” reports about the incident. Duane Mead died on September 13, 2016, one day after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

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Mother of CHOP Shooting Victim Sues Seattle

The mother of a 19-year-old special needs man who was shot in the Seattle CHOP zone last summer, has filed suit against the city of Seattle claiming that medics failure to come to his aid led to his death. Donnitta Sinclair filed suit last week in federal court claiming the intentional and negligent conduct of the city caused the death of her son, Horace Lorenzo Anderson, Jr.

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