Scuba Death Leads to Lawsuit Settlement Against American Medical Response

[Thalassamania]

This is from a while back: 17 Oct 2005

The parents of a 26-year-old scuba diver who died after a scuba accident have settled for an undisclosed amount in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against American Medical Response, the ambulance company that responded to the scene.

The lawsuit also included Monterey County, CA where the incident took place because the county used AMR’s ambulance services. The suit had claimed there was negligence involved on the part of the paramedics who responded to the scene. The lawsuit also claimed that both paramedics had taken heroin earlier in the day.
The scuba diver, XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX, a dive master and scuba instructor, was found unconscious by lifeguards in 15 feet of water. It is believed that the young woman was underwater and unconscious for two to three minutes.


The lawsuit contended that the ambulance took too long to get to the scene and that the paramedics stopped giving XXXXXX resuscitation after 22 minutes. A paramedic declared the woman to be dead but four minutes later via radio a doctor ordered him to restart life-saving measures.


The woman remained in a coma for 15 days before dying in the hospital.
The ambulance company’s dispatch system was not working at the time the call came in. The system had been down for maintenance. In lieu of computerized response the county 911 office was required to telephone the ambulance company. AMR officials say that the call did not come until five minutes after the incident was first reported.


The paramedics were XXXXX XXXXX and XXXXX XXXXX. XXXXX confessed that both men were using heroin earlier in the day. Monterey County changed their ambulance service to another carrier.

 

[Peter Guy]

Just curious, why post this? That is, what is the "take away" you want readers to get?

This seems to be one of those situations which shows that it is not one thing that will lead to a bad result but a cascade of actions that will lead to the bad result.

Who knows if the people would have been revived had the rest of the system worked as designed.

 

[Cacia]

paramedics stopped giving XXXXXX resuscitation after 22 minutes. A paramedic declared the woman to be dead but four minutes later via radio a doctor ordered

I don't know how it is now, but we used to continue resucination all the way to the hospital unless the ER doc via radio gave orders to cease.

Also, were they really PARAMEDICS? or just medics?

I find it surprising that Monterey would subcontract 911 service to a private company, obviously they did. Do they still?

I prefer the Firemen/ Paramedic or RN versions myself.

Meredeth came right out of her coma last night on Grey's Anatomy.

 

[Rick Murchison]

... Meredeth came right out of her coma last night on Grey's Anatomy.

Yeah, and CPR works most of the time on TV too...
Rick

 

[Thalassamania]

Just curious, why post this? That is, what is the "take away" you want readers to get?

This seems to be one of those situations which shows that it is not one thing that will lead to a bad result but a cascade of actions that will lead to the bad result.

Who knows if the people would have been revived had the rest of the system worked as designed.

Just trying to keep the accident record as complete as possible. While the person may have revived, it is still an accident and after several searches I could not find it on SB.

 

[mike_s]

I don't know how it is now, but we used to continue resucination all the way to the hospital unless the ER doc via radio gave orders to cease.

Also, were they really PARAMEDICS? or just medics?

Though medics are not considered 'advanced life support' and are typically used for transport instead of medical emergency runs, you would figure the company would have training in place to do what the doctors ordered.

I find it surprising that Monterey would subcontract 911 service to a private company, obviously they did. Do they still?.

Many cities do this. It's pretty common now days. The city I live in does this, contract Ambulance service for emergency response. They have a qualification process and a bid process and select a service on a X year contract.

 

[Scuba Brian]

Having been a volunteer Paramedic(recently resigned), the policy is still continue to revive until a doctor takes over. They are the only ones that can make the call. Many rural fire and rescue dept.'s only have EMT-Basic runing their ambulances, many times the co-rider is only a first responder. I own a bar/restaurant, i have seen on many occasions in the past some of the fire and rescue members, after drinking head out on a call. This is a volunteer department from which i had been a member. I, after a call to the state was able to end this type of behavior. This letter posted by Thallassamania is just a representation of when this type of behavior finally catches up to the irresponsible.


Edit: My resignation came because of the tension caused by my phone call, guess it wasn't a anonymous call after all.

 

[Spady]

I agree w/ Scuba Brian. If a code is started in the field, its good policy that only a physician stop the code.

 

[Gombessa]

AMR huh? I see their ambulences all the time around the bay area. Private ambulence contractors are pretty much the norm around here; I haven't heard too many good things about any of them (but I'd probably change my tune if I was injured and needed one). I wonder what happened to the diver. A DM unconscious in 15ft water? Accident on the ascent or preexisting medical condition maybe?

Thala - guess the cat's out of the bag already, but you may want to edit to remove the victim's name in the 4th paragraph.

 

[fisherdvm]

I think this case should bring good discussion about when to stop CPR.

If hypothermia is suspected, CPR should be continued until the core body temperature is brought up to normal... then you can stop CPR.

The mistake made here is they stopped CPR prematurely.... The ER was able to revive her, but it was too late to save her brain... That's why she was in a coma for 15 days... She wasn't dead when the medics declared her dead... Or at least they can not prove it.