DETROIT (AP) - Detroit’s firefighters union is challenging the firings of two emergency medical technicians after a life-saving device indicated the pair failed to properly administer CPR on a man who died in their care.
The Detroit Fire Fighters Association has filed an unfair labor charge with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission in an effort to have Michael Morgan and Julian Holts reinstated.
The city’s fire administration terminated the two EMTs last month for “neglect of duty” after using a Zoll monitor-defibrillator during a January emergency run, The Detroit News reported. The union alleges the device was used against the medics in their dismissals.
The device detects and evaluates cardiac rhythm problems and heart attacks. It also reports CPR feedback, but the fire union questions whether the device can accurately evaluate the care being administered.
“This whole ability of this machine to tell you exactly the depth of your compression based on how much inertia you are putting into it, I’m not sure I buy all that,” said Bill Harp, the union’s vice president.
Harp said the sensors evaluating compressions have to be perfectly aligned between the patient and the EMT’s hands to understand the quality of the force. Every patient requires a different level of force for effective compression, he said.
The union is also battling the state’s suspension of Morgan and Holts’ medical licenses.
The fire department declined to comment because the case is still under investigation.
Morgan and Holts also declined to offer specifics because of ongoing legal matters.
A copy of the emergency run report states that the medics responded to a life-threatening priority call to help a man, identified as Patrick Clemons, who had fallen down. Morgan and Holts helped Clemons into an ambulance, where he told the crew he had a history of pulmonary embolism and was experiencing a burning sensation in his chest. The medics tracked his heart rate with the Zoll monitor, which eventually advised them to administer CPR on the way to the hospital.
Clemons was pronounced dead shortly after they arrived at the emergency room.
Clemons’ mother told the fire department of her intent to file a formal complaint against the EMTs, who she said “robbed my son of his life.”
Morgan, who has worked in the medical field for over the last decade, called the situation “a nightmare.”
“I treat people like they were my family,” said Morgan, 31. “No one gets overlooked.”
Holts, 21, said, “At no point in my career, and I assume the same for Morgan, did we just stand by idly and watch someone die.”
“It’s pretty disheartening to go from paramedic to dishwasher,” said Holts. “It’s one of the worst feelings in the world.”
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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
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