I’ll preface this by saying we only know what the family is alleging. The EMT and town have yet to respond and there has been no reply from the town itself.
Arguendo, as the lawyers say, lets stipulate that the facts as presented by the family are accurate.
Maine family files $2M wrongful death lawsuit after patient falls from cot
MEDWAY, Maine — The wife and grandson of a man in respiratory failure watched an EMT pronounce him dead after dropping him from a gurney outside his Maine home, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
Before Kenneth D. LaPorte, Sr. stopped breathing, the EMT who responded to his medical emergency forced him to walk an “unreasonable distance” to the ambulance parked outside his home at around 3 a.m. when he was “experiencing low oxygen levels” of around 74% on April 16, 2022, the lawsuit says.
Letting a patient with an acute illness walk any distance is poor care absent some unusual circumstances. Which don’t appear to be present here. 74% is pretty much incompatible with life and encouraging a patient to walk is going to place severe stress on their cardiorespiratory system.
Then, the EMT placed LaPorte on a gurney — but never strapped him to it — before she went to get an oxygen tube, according to the complaint, which says as she untangled the oxygen tubing, LaPorte stopped breathing.
When the EMT lifted the gurney, LaPorte’s family watched him fall off, hit his head on the ambulance’s bumper and again on the ground, the complaint says.
Again, a serious lapse of patient care. Typically, providers are required to bring the appropriate equipment and a method to “convey” the patient to the ambulance. Since the patient was on home Oxygen a reasonable and prudent provider would make sure that was provided before moving the patient.
Straps are required before moving the patient specifically to prevent them from falling off the stretcher.
After the Medway Ambulance Service arrived at LaPorte’s home, the ambulance’s driver brought a medical bag inside the house but the EMT wouldn’t use it, according to the complaint.
“I do not need the bag, take it back out,” the EMT told the driver, the complaint says.
The EMT is accused of failing to record LaPorte’s vital signs before having him walk to the ambulance while in respiratory distress, according to the complaint.
Total fail there. When I read an ambulance report, I check to see what time the vital signs were first obtained. If it’s more than two minutes after initial patient contact, the provider had better have documented a good reason.
CPR is more effective on a flat service (gurney), rather than on the earth.”
I’ll quibble and say not necessarily, but it’s just a quibble. The bigger issue is the patient falling off the stretcher, not where the CPR was done.
Oh, and I don’t know anyone in EMS, at least east of the Mississippi that calls and ambulance stretcher a “Gurney.” I don’t even know what a Gurney is although I guess that it’s some term some writer heard along they way and thought was cool. I’ve heard them called “the bed,” “cot,” or even a “stretcher” and one former partner called it “The Slumber King,” but never a Gurney.
Neither major ambulance stretcher manufacturer uses the term “Gurney.”
Back on point. I don’t know who is liable in this case as it’s unclear if the ambulance service was run by the town or is a private service who provides service to the town. I’m sure it will all be straightened out in court and it’s likely that someone’s insurance company will settle before it goes to trial.
It’s doubtful that the family made up this story, but it might not be as bad as the article portrays. Likely we’ll never know.
I’d sure like to get a chance to read the ambulance report, but that’s not going to happen.
In any case, the optics of this are horrible.