What Are Your Rights: Video Shows Patient Mistreated By EMTs

Announcer: The following segment is sponsored by Harding-Mazzotti.

Interviewer: Two EMTs resigned after this disturbing video that we’ve been showing you guys, showing them yelling at a man, yanking on him, and making him get into an ambulance himself. The whole incident prompted an ongoing investigation. The initial 911 call was made for the patient’s high blood sugar. So, what are your rights if you or your loved one is treated like this in a medical situation? We’ve got managing partner Paul Harding here from Harding-Mazzotti. Initial thoughts when you saw this video?

Paul: Yeah, they blew it. You know, once somebody takes control of a situation, the EMTs are there, or the police, once you say, “I’m going to engage,” you have to do so in a reasonable manner, one that’s gonna protect the person that you’re engaged with.

And here, we don’t have audio, so we don’t know what was happening, but they just kinda blew it. They tried to pull him out by a leg, they were trying to do some things to him that coulda resulted in injury, and maybe it did, I haven’t heard that it did. But so, yeah, things didn’t go well.

Interviewer: Yeah, actually, and we do have some audio, so you can kind of hear them shouting at him and yelling at him. But can these people be held liable for any potential injuries, or even, you know, the emotional suffering?

Paul: Yeah, you know, take the physical piece. But if somehow he was injured through the course of this, where they’re going to pull on him, and he fell out and hit his head, so, any additional injuries he had before they engaged with him would be, yes, he would have a claim for personal injuries. Because what they did was wrong, you know? We don’t know exactly what’s happening. They misread the situation, whether they thought that he was faking, or they thought he was drinking, they didn’t…they were sorta treating it like that. I don’t think that’s what they normally do, but it’s what they did on that day.

Interviewer: Yeah. So what can or should you do if this happens to you or someone that you know or love?

Paul: Yeah, you’ve gotta get the word out, you know, you gotta get the word, too because, you know, that is not in the manual, the way they did it, you know?

And again, my guess is they do it right a lot, most of the time, and they just found an opportunity, and for whatever they were interpreting, they missed it. So get the word out, what’s happening right now. You know, I think this is gonna be sobering for anyone who’s doing that type of work to, you know, treat every situation delicately.

Interviewer: Yeah. Could they face criminal charges, the EMTs?

Paul: I don’t see the criminal piece here, you know? I don’t see intentionality. I see negligence, and I don’t know what the criminal charge would be. But clearly, it is not what we want in our communities. And I’m sure they’re gonna be reprimanded, and retrained, and all the things that’ll make them, hopefully, the good EMT people that they probably are most of the time.

Interviewer: Okay. All right. Thank you so much, Paul.

Paul: Absolutely.

Interviewer: For more info covered in our weekly What Are Your Rights segments, or to send us a story idea, just head to our website, CBS6Albany.com.