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Can I sue an ambulance company?

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cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
What a horrific experience to have to live through. I'm so sorry for your loss.

This is going to sound much more harsh than I mean it to, but the law is sometimes harsh and cold.

Do you have MEDICAL evidence that but for the actions of the EMT/ambulance company, your son WOULD HAVE lived? Not, MIGHT HAVE LIVED but WOULD HAVE LIVED?
 


RVARGAS831

Junior Member
Thank you for your prompt response.....They will not release any of the investigation reports or coroner's report due to the case still being opened. Is there a law that prevents the ambulance company to wait till the scene is clear before they respond?
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
I'm a desperate and heartbroken mother. My sons were both shot. My 18 yr old son passed as his 16 yr brother held him in his arms in the middle of the street. Our local sherriff's dept. deemed it as a non-gang related homicide on the part of my sons. My question is: Can the ambulance company be held liable if they DIDN"T attend to my son immediately? He was shot in the chest and possibly could have been saved. When they took my 16 yr old son to attend to him, the EMT was harrassing him, verbally assulting him and twisting the arm he was shot in. Very unprofessional. As if it wasnt enough that my child had to witness the death of his brother but then to have to endure the abuse from the EMT. Any advice to this matter would GREATLY appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Roben
I know this may sound harsh, but how can you be so absolutely certain what happened if you weren't present?

Most EMTs and paramedics are trained to know whether or not an injury is life threatening, and whether or not it would be prudent to waste time and effort trying to resuscitate a victim that by all other standards might already be considered DOA.

And as for your 16-year old son, perhaps he was out of control and emotional over what had just happened with his brother. Perhaps he was less than cooperative, and became combative with the EMTs who were trying to work on him when he thought they should have been trying to resuscitate his brother.

There are just so many "what ifs" that COULD have happened here. There's no way to know whether or not the EMTs could be held liable for your older son's death, because we don't know the whole story of what went down.

We are very sorry for your loss, but until all the facts are known, you really need to be concentrating on other things rather than looking for someone to blame for your son's death. And in reality, it was the person that SHOT your son who is ultimately responsible for that.
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
Thank you for your prompt response.....They will not release any of the investigation reports or coroner's report due to the case still being opened. Is there a law that prevents the ambulance company to wait till the scene is clear before they respond?
If there is an issue of safety for the EMTs to proceed, then yes, the police can prevent them from attending to the victims. It doesn't make any sense for them to go in to take care of the wounded and end up injured or killed themselves.

If the shooter was still on the scene, or the crime scene was unsecured, then the police may very well have told the EMTs not to approach the area until it was safe to do so.
 

Jendor

Member
Very sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how heartbroke you are.

Is there a law that prevents the ambulance company to wait till the scene is clear before they respond?
I'm not sure if it's a "law", but at the very least I would speculate that there may be an agency protocol that the emergency personnel are not to go on scene until it is clear, that being for safety of the personnel. EMT's are not trained in law enforcement, and had a gunman still been present, an EMT being shot isn't going to be able to treat a patient by also becoming one.

He was shot in the chest and possibly could have been saved.
Unfortunately medicine is not exact science, and with something as serious as being shot in the chest, it's just as possible that even if the scene had been clear when personnel arrived, no guarantees.

When they took my 16 yr old son to attend to him, the EMT was harrassing him, verbally assulting him and twisting the arm he was shot in.
I'm NOT trying to sound like a jerk, but was this "witnessed" by yourself? Otherwise, I'd speculate this would be a his word vs. their word. IF it was documented by the doctors that the arm being twisted caused permanent damage AND not just being shot alone, there might some remote unlikely possibility of a case. Not very professional if that is what happened, however, what you could do is contact the ambulance agency and file a complaint with the supervisor. If that particular EMT has a history of being abusive or complaints of not being professional towards patients, then at the very least, that could be addressed at the ambulance agency level. For all you know, the guy does have complaints of being rough, etc.

Also... one last thing... I suggest REMOVING your email address from your original post. Spammers love harvesting email addresses, and any contact here will be through these forums.
 
Last edited:

racer72

Senior Member
I'm a desperate and heartbroken mother. My sons were both shot. My 18 yr old son passed as his 16 yr brother held him in his arms in the middle of the street. Our local sherriff's dept. deemed it as a non-gang related homicide on the part of my sons. My question is: Can the ambulance company be held liable if they DIDN"T attend to my son immediately? He was shot in the chest and possibly could have been saved. When they took my 16 yr old son to attend to him, the EMT was harrassing him, verbally assulting him and twisting the arm he was shot in. Very unprofessional. As if it wasnt enough that my child had to witness the death of his brother but then to have to endure the abuse from the EMT. Any advice to this matter would GREATLY appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Roben
Flagged to remove email address.
 

pls5286

Junior Member
I am a paramedic. Maybe my perspective will help you some.

EMS cannot enter a scene of a shooting or any violent scene unless it is deemed safe by law enforcement. They cannot help the victim if they become a patient themselves.

In what way do you say they were harassing your 16 y/o son. In their eyes was he possibly interfering with their efforts to see if your 18 y/o was a viable patient and had to use some force to move him? Were they trying to move him to keep him from seeing what was going on with his brother? Were they trying to move the 16 y/o to better treat him?

Also at the time of EMS arrival is the 18 y/o was already pulseless and apneic it is a judgement call on behalf of the paramedic on the scene to decide if the patient is viable or not. If there is a lot of blood loss and other trauma, many times, there will not be resuscitation efforts. It is a call I have made myself. If there is a trauma code in the field before EMS arrival, successful resuscitation efforts are rare. Trauma victims need operating rooms, and paramedics can't do surgery, as you well know.

I am deeply sorry for your loss, but please know that the results of a full code in the field would have most likely ended in the same way and would have been called upon arrival at the ER. Please get your younger son counseling, as he will need it to heal from this trauma. No one should have to go through this.
 

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