Brent Adams & Associates Legal Blog

Wrongful Death Claim on Behalf of EMS Personnel Settled by County

Wrongful Death Claim on Behalf of EMS Personnel Settled by County

The wife of a young man who suffered from an asthma attack and died while under the care of the defendants claimed that her husband died as a result of carelessness on the part of the EMS workers. The defendants to pay $1,750,000.00 for the death of the man.

The plaintiff’s husband of eight days was a 37- year-old loan officer earning $41,000.00 a year. On May 7, 2006, his wife called 911 because he was suffering an asthma attack at their home. When the EMS workers arrived he was in respiratory distress. The EMS workers continued providing medical assistance to him for almost an hour. He was then transported to the hospital by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.

The plaintiff claimed that the defendant EMS workers did not follow proper procedures such as failing to provide inhalation therapy, epinephrine or continual positive airway pressure. The plaintiff also contends that an IV line that had been established and dislodged was not replaced in a timely manner.

Although the victim lived only eight miles from the hospital, the EMS workers provided assistance at his home for nearly an hour before taking him to the hospital.

The plaintiff indicated her husband had suffered a heart attack while the EMS workers were working on him and they failed to use a defibrillator that was kept in the ambulance.  The plaintiff contends that the delay in treatment resulted in her husband’s death.