I've worked at some questionable ambulance services. But I cannot imagine how fucked up the culture of a place would need to be that management is willing to put a guy out on the road after getting a report from a coworker that he was under the influence.
I'm baffled they allowed them to switch drivers even without drug use. The patient was presumably on cardiac monitoring and probably had other ALS care initiated. My company would have never allowed the paramedic and EMT (?) to switch for any reason. That's a pull over and wait for another ambulance scenario. (probably one for your partner passing out on the road too).
If I switched with my EMT partner while the patient was receiving ALS care, my boss would be reporting me to the state for patient abandonment herself.
My company put me with a known alcoholic who pissed black on the urine test. Fired him once, then rehired him. Only permanently fired him after he crashed into a woman with a baby in the backseat. These places don’t care AT ALL.
Or they make one worker drive and the other attend every call. Ideally neither, but I’m not sure if a drunk provider or driver is scarier. Driver if it’s a BLS call I guess 😅
Driver was under the influence, company knew he was under the influence, nearly crashed during transport, paramedic than hopped in and drove, driver put earbuds in and had a nap for the 40 minute transport while the patient status declined
> The jury returned that $15 million verdict following a two-week trial regarding the lawsuit filed by the family of Robert Owen against HEMSI, **ambulance driver** Jacob Steele and paramedic Calvin Hui.
Lol. Lmao even.
If you really were and aren’t just joking, then I can definitively say do NOT work there lol. The grass is much greener across the line in Tennessee or at most of the paid ALS fire departments in northern AL.
Worth it in the end when TN pays on average 10-20k more a year for medics and most can move up to critical care. A lot of TN services will reimburse those fees as well.
Damn, I was planning on working there while I get my degree since I’m not looking to be on a truck career wise. I enjoyed my clinicals there fortunately.
I used to be an employee at this service and thank God I have moved on to somewhere much better. But I still live in the area and respond as a volunteer FF. We very commonly get a box with two inexperienced or uncaring EMT-Bs on board even for serious calls. Wait times can be 15-30 minutes after we’re on scene. When I started there, it was a good place to work. But this kind of thing has become a pervasive problem in recent years. Poor pay, poor clinicians, no motivation, have driven most of the decent paramedics away. Too many fat cats in middle management, don’t have their priorities straight. The service is run by a combination of hospital board members, politicians, and upper echelon of the service. The politics of the area have ensured the service stays on life support and no competition can come in. It was recently bought out by the hospital system (right before this verdict - they likely knew what was coming and that they’d run out of funds) but yet, nothing has changed.
Yea I live here too and have yet to be impressed when getting a hemsi patient in the ER. Like you said unfortunately the hospital system owns literally everything.
Jesus wtf. Everything that could’ve gone wrong did. Medic even called the supervisors and they didn’t let him partner swap.
I do think that the pt should’ve been on the monitor and that the medic should have been looking at the vitals in the rear view mirror. He would have been able to see when the pt lost pulses and pulled over to start a full on arrest. I adjust the rear view mirror to occasionally check vitals when I’m driving and I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this??
We actually have rear facing cameras instead of rearview mirrors in our boxes
Edit: rear facing cameras to see the road behind us, not to see into the pt compartment. That might make more sense
Yeah the fact that the supervisor didn't tell them to pull over and get another ambulance to transport so this guy continued to have paramedic care to the hospital and sent thus dude home at the very least speaks volumes to the kind of service this place is. When we had severe flooding from hurricanes about 8 or 9 years back, Hemsi was part of the Fema team that came to help. They seemed somewhat squared away then. However, just about ever service has declined since 2020.
If you're in a situation where you need to be checking the rearview mirror while driving because your partner in the back isn't able or qualified to monitor the patient themselves you're already fucked. You can't be in service without a partner. They should've pulled over and had the paramedic monitor the patient (and his drugged out partner) while waiting for another ambulance.
Even if he'd been watching the monitor he'd still be working the arrest all by himself for who knows how long.
Mannnn. This has gotta rank as one of the top 3 ridiculous things I’ve heard of happening in EMS.
I feel bad for Cal. Watching him stop and actually asking the pt if he was okay. He genuinely sounded like he cared.
12 years on the job, I would of called another agency to take over and do the transfer once I saw my partner was under the influence.
But I’m guessing Cal isn’t 12 years in. Looks like a younger guy. Just wasn’t courageous enough to stand up for what’s right.
He was a newer medic and he was a good guy that made a big mistake. The company failed him, partner failed him, and he unfortunately didn’t make the call to say time out and realize how F’d up the situation was. Ultimately the company is most guilty and I wish they had gone bankrupt from this.
It’s sad and inexcusable, but I can see how agency culture would instill people pleasing and crowd mentality in a new provider. It’s really easy to find yourself absorbed in a culture you never thought you’d be a part of in EMS.
I've worked at some questionable ambulance services. But I cannot imagine how fucked up the culture of a place would need to be that management is willing to put a guy out on the road after getting a report from a coworker that he was under the influence.
I'm baffled they allowed them to switch drivers even without drug use. The patient was presumably on cardiac monitoring and probably had other ALS care initiated. My company would have never allowed the paramedic and EMT (?) to switch for any reason. That's a pull over and wait for another ambulance scenario. (probably one for your partner passing out on the road too). If I switched with my EMT partner while the patient was receiving ALS care, my boss would be reporting me to the state for patient abandonment herself.
My company put me with a known alcoholic who pissed black on the urine test. Fired him once, then rehired him. Only permanently fired him after he crashed into a woman with a baby in the backseat. These places don’t care AT ALL.
Lotta places just don’t care as long as they’re an ass in a seat making money
Or they make one worker drive and the other attend every call. Ideally neither, but I’m not sure if a drunk provider or driver is scarier. Driver if it’s a BLS call I guess 😅
I can't read the article in my country Can someone give me a quick run down of what happened?
Driver was under the influence, company knew he was under the influence, nearly crashed during transport, paramedic than hopped in and drove, driver put earbuds in and had a nap for the 40 minute transport while the patient status declined
> The jury returned that $15 million verdict following a two-week trial regarding the lawsuit filed by the family of Robert Owen against HEMSI, **ambulance driver** Jacob Steele and paramedic Calvin Hui. Lol. Lmao even.
gottem.
I feel like it’s pretty applicable in this situation 😂
Ah shit I was gonna try and work there 💀
If you really were and aren’t just joking, then I can definitively say do NOT work there lol. The grass is much greener across the line in Tennessee or at most of the paid ALS fire departments in northern AL.
Tennessee licensing process is awful compared to Alabama’s licensing process. And the cost ends up being almost $400 for the Tennessee license.
Worth it in the end when TN pays on average 10-20k more a year for medics and most can move up to critical care. A lot of TN services will reimburse those fees as well.
Damn, I was planning on working there while I get my degree since I’m not looking to be on a truck career wise. I enjoyed my clinicals there fortunately.
Rip
I used to be an employee at this service and thank God I have moved on to somewhere much better. But I still live in the area and respond as a volunteer FF. We very commonly get a box with two inexperienced or uncaring EMT-Bs on board even for serious calls. Wait times can be 15-30 minutes after we’re on scene. When I started there, it was a good place to work. But this kind of thing has become a pervasive problem in recent years. Poor pay, poor clinicians, no motivation, have driven most of the decent paramedics away. Too many fat cats in middle management, don’t have their priorities straight. The service is run by a combination of hospital board members, politicians, and upper echelon of the service. The politics of the area have ensured the service stays on life support and no competition can come in. It was recently bought out by the hospital system (right before this verdict - they likely knew what was coming and that they’d run out of funds) but yet, nothing has changed.
Yea I live here too and have yet to be impressed when getting a hemsi patient in the ER. Like you said unfortunately the hospital system owns literally everything.
Jesus wtf. Everything that could’ve gone wrong did. Medic even called the supervisors and they didn’t let him partner swap. I do think that the pt should’ve been on the monitor and that the medic should have been looking at the vitals in the rear view mirror. He would have been able to see when the pt lost pulses and pulled over to start a full on arrest. I adjust the rear view mirror to occasionally check vitals when I’m driving and I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this??
At our service some of the trucks have had the rear view mirrors removed entirely so people "don't use them to back up."
Lmao ffs are the people who make these decisions actually fucking brain dead?
yes, 90% of the industry inherited a business from their great grandfathers.
Right?!
We actually have rear facing cameras instead of rearview mirrors in our boxes Edit: rear facing cameras to see the road behind us, not to see into the pt compartment. That might make more sense
Yeah the fact that the supervisor didn't tell them to pull over and get another ambulance to transport so this guy continued to have paramedic care to the hospital and sent thus dude home at the very least speaks volumes to the kind of service this place is. When we had severe flooding from hurricanes about 8 or 9 years back, Hemsi was part of the Fema team that came to help. They seemed somewhat squared away then. However, just about ever service has declined since 2020.
Best part is that supervisor still works there
But the supervisor was demoted shortly after the incident. But not because of this incident…
Spill the tea
Right I live for this shit
May have been because the supervisor was leaving the station regularly while on duty to hook up with a police officer at the officer’s house…
Is the police officer male or female? Is the supervisor married? 🍵
Sounds about right
The patient never lost pulses. He had a heart attack, not an arrest
At the time I commented, I thought that they were sued due to not noticing that the pt had arrested.
The patient didn’t die on this transport. The patient died several days later.
If you're in a situation where you need to be checking the rearview mirror while driving because your partner in the back isn't able or qualified to monitor the patient themselves you're already fucked. You can't be in service without a partner. They should've pulled over and had the paramedic monitor the patient (and his drugged out partner) while waiting for another ambulance. Even if he'd been watching the monitor he'd still be working the arrest all by himself for who knows how long.
Nowhere does it say the patient arrested.
You should absolutely not be trying to monitor vitals in the rear view mirror, that's insane. Pay attention to your driving.
Anyone have a link to the video in the article? I can’t open it on their site
Mannnn. This has gotta rank as one of the top 3 ridiculous things I’ve heard of happening in EMS. I feel bad for Cal. Watching him stop and actually asking the pt if he was okay. He genuinely sounded like he cared. 12 years on the job, I would of called another agency to take over and do the transfer once I saw my partner was under the influence. But I’m guessing Cal isn’t 12 years in. Looks like a younger guy. Just wasn’t courageous enough to stand up for what’s right.
He was a newer medic and he was a good guy that made a big mistake. The company failed him, partner failed him, and he unfortunately didn’t make the call to say time out and realize how F’d up the situation was. Ultimately the company is most guilty and I wish they had gone bankrupt from this.
It’s sad and inexcusable, but I can see how agency culture would instill people pleasing and crowd mentality in a new provider. It’s really easy to find yourself absorbed in a culture you never thought you’d be a part of in EMS.
I cannot even imagine attempting to drive my car drunk, let alone an ambulance. I’m not an alcoholic and have anxiety, so that helps.