EMS kidnapping

[nysaemt]

I am an advanced emergency medical technician in NY state and am wondering about being charged with kidnapping a patient. There are times when a patient wants to be taken to a hospital that is inappropriate and cannot care for them properly, but no matter how hard I try to explain to them that they need to go to a different facility and they may die at the facility they choose, they won't agree. My questions is, can I be charged with, or sued for, false imprisonment/kidnapping if I take them to a hospital that they don't want to go to, but I know will be able to better treat them?

 

[Mike101]

Take them where they want to go. If you tell them that if you take them to the facility they want to go to that they may die, so you need to take them to this other one. That may be looked at as they aren't going to die if they go to the one you want them to go to. If they go to the one you want them to go to and then die anyway that could open you up to some legal action. Civil and criminal. If your hospital is further away then their choice can you say for sure that they would not have died if you got them to their hospital a minute sooner? You can't and a question like that ends up being a question for a jury.

 

[Beth3]

nysaemt, your question should be put to your management team who should research it with their legal counsel. I can see the potential for liabilty for taking a patient to a facility they don't wish to go to, as well as taking them to a facility (even at their insistance) that you know will be unable to treat them properly.

Since this is an issue that would affect all the EMT's in your organization and has the potential for significant liability implications for the entity for whom you work, I would assume they would want to research the answer and get an expert opinion from their own counsel.

As far as being concerned about being charged with kidnapping, that sure sounds like a stretch. I can't imagine the district attorney pursuing a criminal case against an EMT under these circumstances. The kind of liability I am referring to above is civil - i.e. a lawsuit brought by a transport patient.

 

[hmmbrdzz]

In our state, EMS communicates with the emergency room prior to and or during transport to establish availability in the ER for arrival. If at any time prior to arrival to the ER the patient refuses transport or care, the patient is required to sign a form releasing medical personnel of all liability. Does EMS transport in NY not require patient consent? Or does it not allow refusal of care that legally released you from liability?

hmmbrdzz

 

[Mike101]

I too think kidnapping would be a stretch. I think though if the patient died on the way to a hospital that was further then the one they requested they go to and the reason the were going to that hospital was because the EMS person thought it would be better to go there and there was no prior approval from a doctor or family member I think it would be possible criminal charges could result from that.