This will be a short post with a link.

My advice to those still working in the field is,

“Don’t do this.”

Denver firefighters suspended for getting woman pronounced dead even though she was alive

Two Denver firefighters will serve unpaid suspensions for asking a doctor to pronounce a living woman dead even though they hadn’t assessed her or looked at her.

I don’t know how the system in Denver is designed, but I know that “Denver Health” is the EMS provider. Why two firefighters were making this determination is beyond me.

Why they listened to a police officer and then decided that calling medical control for permission to declare death is incomprehensible.

Henry relayed the police officer’s description of the woman as though he had made the observations, saying “she is bloated and obviously dead,” according to the letter. The doctor asked Henry whether the woman had a pulse or if there were signs of trauma and Henry said no, despite not having assessed her or looked at her himself.

At the least Henry lied about having examined the patient and the findings.

You can read the rest of the article to see what disciplinary action was taken against each of them.

Personally, I think both should have been fired, at least based on the article. We all know that the media is not always accurate in their reporting, but if this accurate it’s more than a mistake.

It’s deliberate malfeasance of office.