Abandonment: the duty to continue management of a patient until such responsibility is transferred to another medical professional possessing an equal or higher level of skill.
The following terminology is not intended to be all inclusive
Breach of duty: Failure to provide care.
Causation: That a breach of duty which the plaintiff complains of, was the actual cause of the injury.
Damages: The actual injury or suffered by the plaintive. This term is also used by attorneys to describe the amount a plaintive is seeking.
Defendant: The person against whom the plaintiff’s lawsuit is filed.
Duty to act: The legal responsibility to provide care.
Good Samaritan laws: Statues providing immunity to certain groups of individuals, depending on the specific language of the statute:
Michigan’s Good Samaritan Law:
IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN "LAY INDIVIDUAL" (CIVILLIAN) IS COVERED UNDER THE GOOD SAMARTIAN ACT AGAINST LAW SUITS WHEN RENDERING APPROPRIATE CPR. CIVILLIAN'S ARE NOW PROTECTED IN THE USE OF (AED'S) AUTOMATIC DEFIBRILLATORS. AS DEFINED IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN LEGISLATION. A "LAY INDIVIDUAL" (Civilian) IS COVERED UNDER THE GOOD SAMARTIAN ACT AGAINST LAW SUITS WHEN RENDERING APPROPRIATE CPR.
Plaintiff: The party initiating the legal action.
Malpractice: A term of often used to describe the laws of negligence as it applies to professionals. There are no significant differences between ordinary negligence cases and those where Malpractice is alleged.
Negligence: Failure to exercise reasonable in ordinary caution in respect to others the little negligence is a modern term to describe hotels of torts.
Liability: A determination at the conclusion of the legal process, that person has been negligent, and then negligence coast injury to another person and the negligent person must compensate the injured person for injury or loss.
Liability insurance: A policy of insurance which may be purchased a perfect legal defense service and indemnification against judgments or settlements.
Proximate cause: Reasonable cause and effect relationship between the complainants -complaint in the damages sustained.
Assault:is defined as to threaten with our, unlawfully placing a person in apprehension of immediately badly harm without his or her consent.
Battery:is defined as the unlawful touching another person without his or her consent.
Statute of Limitations
Statue of Limitations:The time, within which the legal action must be commenced, the statute of limitation for negligence is three years and normally starts to run from the time of the negligent conduct.
In malpractice the statute of limitation is two years.
However the statue of limitations my not start to run until discovery that of a negligent act or conduct.
According to the Web site lawyersandsettlements.com, a class action lawsuit was filed February in Federal Court in Texas against Ford Motor Co. alleging the company's diesel-powered ambulances are defective. According to the Web site, fire departments and ambulance services across the country have been experiencing engine problems such as blown gaskets, radiator hoses, and sensors in Ford ambulances equipped with the six-liter diesel.
Medical Records and Reports:
Medical records are a very important document, which contains all the pertinent information regarding to patient care, vital signs, treatment, and transportation issues.
A medical record of events and actions are a critical resource and documentation tool, and is very essential if a case turns into a legal case, or Lawsuit. Remember if it is not written it didn’t happen.
Record keeping is important because it provides a mechanism for efficient continuity of patient care.
It provides quality assurance information.
Administrative information should include the patient’s demographics and billing data.
The EMS run form provides both official and legal documentation of the patient’s care provided by the medics, as well as care provided by First Responders as well as bystanders.
At the minimum the patient report should contain the following information:
Patient history, physical exam findings, the medic’s impression of the patient’s illness or injuries, and the treatment provided.
The most common format for writing patient reports are:
Soape Chart
The acronym Soape stands for:
Subjective information offered by the patient
Objective information which is observed in measurable
Assessment impression of the illness or injury
Plan what the paramedic did to treat the patient
Evaluation of the care given by the paramedic and reassessment of the patient’s condition upon transfer to a receiving facility.The acronym for chart for:
Patients chief complaint
Patients history
Paramedics assessment of the illness or injury
Paramedics treatment of the patients illness or injuries
Transport; allow patients transported including the positioning of the patient.
Run reports or charts are legal documents. The copy should be kept on file with both the ems provider and medical facility in which the patient was received.
The patient’s chart is to be written using correct medical terminology. Medical control authority or even sees approved abbreviations may be used.
Mistakes on the chart are to be drawn through with a single line and initialed by the medic writing the report.
The paramedic may be required to file other reports in special circumstances such as suspected cases of spousal abuse and child abuse.
Irregular occurrences will need to be documented on a separate incident report. The patient’s chart is not the proper form to document these type of incidents.
In Michigan there are four Levels of emergency medical services Personnel licensed to provide emergency care, they are as follows:
Medical first responder-
Emergency Medical technician
Emergency medical technician specialist
Paramedics
Prerequisites for Licensure of each EMS Personnel include:
Minimum age eighteen years to apply.
Successful completion of an appropriate Michigan Department of Public Health approved education program.
MDPH Approval of an examination and or licensure application-Have a passing score as prescribed by the Department’s examinations for State Licensure.
The requirements for maintaining EMS Personnel Licensure Include:
Meet all ongoing education as prescribed credit Department of Emergency Medical Services.
Successful completion of a Department approved refresher course as an alternative to ongoingeducation.
The Owner of two Ambulance Companies Guilty on 14 counts of Billing Fraud
05-10-2010 A federal jury convicted the owner of two ambulance companies of 14 counts of fraudulently billing Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers for more than $3.5 million. A jury found Muhammed Nasiru Usman, 50, of Arlington, Texas, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, 12 counts of health care fraud and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity.
The conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each of the health-care fraud counts carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Co-defendants Shaun Outen, 32, of Aubrey, Texas, and David McNac, 35, of Dallas, pleaded guilty to their role in the conspiracy before trial.
Prosecutors say Usman's companies, Royal Ambulance Service, and First Choice EMS, primarily transferred patients on a nonemergency basis to and from dialysis treatments three times per week. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the defendants told Royal and First Choice employees to omit facts in documenting their work, such as whether patients walked to the ambulance, to qualify for reimbursement.
Company records showed that many patients rode to appointments in a captain's chair in the ambulance, rather than on a stretcher. Payments of more than $1.2 million were made to the companies. Usman is to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis on July 28, McNac pleaded guilty on April 22, and is to be sentenced on July 21, Outen pleaded guilty on March 24; his sentencing is set for June 16, 2010.
The conviction was a result of "Operation Easy Rider," in which search warrants were executed on ambulance companies across Texas.
Jefferson County seeking to dismiss a wrongful Death Lawsuit in Death of EMT
05-22-2010 Jefferson County New Jersey Attorney David J. Paulsen filed a response Wednesday at the county clerk's office to a state Supreme Court action brought April 29, 2010, by Mr. Davis's mother, Marsha L. Dickinson. In an answer to the complaint, Mr. Paulsen denied that the county was negligent in its conduct toward Mr. Davis or that it breached any duty owed him on the night of Jan. 30, 2009.
EMT Mark Davis, who worked as an EMT for the Cape Vincent Volunteer Fire Department, was shot and killed while responding to a reported chest-pain call at 114 S. Esseltyne St. in Cape Vincent. The patient, Christopher M. Burke, allegedly went into a bedroom, retrieved a shotgun and used it to kill Mr. Davis.
The lawsuit, also names the Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service Inc., the family claims the defendants were negligent by, among other things, failing to properly train personnel and failing to render assistance and emergency medical care to Mr. Davis the night he was shot.
While the County has issued blanket denials to most of the Davis family's complaints, the county claims that any alleged injuries suffered by the family as a result of Mr. Davis's death resulted from his negligence or other culpable conduct. The county's response does state how it is alleged that EMT Davis was negligent.
The county maintains that if any damages are awarded the family as a result of the action, the award should be reduced by an amount in proportion to which EMT Mark Davis's alleged conduct attributed to the damages. By maintaining that the county was not negligent or otherwise remiss in its duty to Mr. Davis, the county is arguing that the family's lawsuit fails to state a cause of action upon which any relief can be granted. The county is asking for the suit's dismissal on that basis.
Burke, the alleged shooter, is not named as a defendant in the suit. He was arrested after the shooting and arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree menacing and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.
200 + EMTs Suspended in License Scam
Boston 05-18-2010 -- More than 200 emergency medical technicians have been suspended for falsifying training records after an 18-month investigation revealed that the workers had not attended required refresher classes, the state announced Thursday.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said 207 EMTs will have their licenses suspended for 45 days to nine months, depending on the severity of the falsifications. Private companies and municipalities that employ the emergency workers may also take their own disciplinary actions, the state said.
The agency said the emergency workers, to gain recertification, claimed they completed training they never attended. Most of the workers are from the Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston, according to public health officials.
DPH Commissioner John Auerbach said there has been a “systemic effort to falsify information” by some emergency workers.
The EMTs “knowingly signed up for and paid for trainings, fully aware that they would never be held,” Auerbach said. There have been no complaints of inappropriate care because of EMTs’ failure to go through recertification courses, he said.
The department launched an investigation after receiving tips that EMTs, paramedics, police officers and firefighters from Massachusetts and New Hampshire were getting documentation from certificate mills without attending the required classes.
The department will begin taking steps to prevent such abuses from recurring, including requiring emergency workers to take an ethics class, Auerbach said. He said the length of the suspensions should be a deterrent to others considering falsifying credentials.
Public health officials said the suspended workers come from 10 private and 14 municipal ambulance services, but the department wouldn’t release the names of the ambulance services.
The Department of Public Health has referred the matter to the attorney general’s office.
EMTs are expected to take refresher courses once every two years. The courses review basic skills and cover new procedures.
“The vast majority of Massachusetts’ 24,000 EMTs are properly certified and in compliance with required training,” JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.
The emergency workers can appeal their suspensions.
The suspensions will take effect July 1 to give ambulance services enough time to find replacements. Several EMTs have already been terminated by their employers, public health officials said.
Coming to this page: "Crime Scene and EMS Staging," when to enter, how to enter the scene, how to provide Patient care, and preserve evidence.
05-11-2011 A Former Michigan Medic "Matt DeFillippo," who was sentenced in 2006 for Sexual assault of a then teenage patient and who was paroled in 2009 and faced a lawsuit that saw a $12.5 million judgement with the jury finding DeFillippo 70 percent responible and in a surprise finding Michigan based "Superior Ambulance," 30 percent responsible. Read the entire history of "DeFillippo's," actions. The case history and more may be found on this site's "ARCHIVE PAGE." (Click Here to Read)
EMS / Social Media Legal Ruling
ARTICLE: Medic: Info from Jackson doctor didn't add up
Publication:. Associated Press via knoxnews.com
The article below shows the importance of both observation and documentation by EMS Personnel. Your medical report is a legal chart of events, treatment and observations
Doctor Convicted in Death November 7, 2011
Cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray was found "Guilty," following weeks of a trial which featured and outlined the importance of Emergency Medical Personnel documentation of the events resulting in their response to an "Unresponsive Male." Three Paramedics, who responded to a medical call involving Michael Jackson, were called to the stand over the course of Dr. Murray's trial on charges of involuntary Manslaughter.. Based on their EMS run forms, which is a chart of medical care that was provided by the responding medics.
This trial shows the importance of documentation of Patient care, EMS runs forms become a permanent charted record of of the patient. EMS Run forms are often subpoenaed by Prosecutors, and Defense Attorneys. That is why Basic and Advanced Medics must record accurately their response time, scene time, transport time as well as recording initial observations relevant to the call. Medications and times administered by the medics, pertinent bystander accounts as to what occurred such as for example the patient has no known medical problems, is currently not on any medications etc.
EMS Run forms are legal records, in which a Medic can review if he or she is called to testify as was the situation involving the medical care of the patient. This case shows the importance of detailing correctly and not diagnosing or hypothesizing your own opinions.
By Dave's EMS Headquarters
ARTICLE: Social media and the emergency services: Part 1 - Emergency Management
Publication: FUMSI
ARTICLE: Social media and the emergency services: Part 2 - Emergency Management
