# EMT faces jail time



## MariaCatEMT (Aug 31, 2004)

*EMT FACES JAIL TIME



EMT facing time in jail
Man guilty of misconduct; refused to treat patient

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News
August 31, 2004

An emergency medical technician has been convicted of official misconduct in an incident in which a witness testified the EMT refused to treat a cardiac patient and punched the patient's wife in the face.

EMT Anthony Dalcanton, 39, faces up to 180 days in jail.




READ MORE*


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## SafetyPro2 (Aug 31, 2004)

Wow, it's amazing that Colorado hasn't been doing more thorough background checks until now.

The California Health & Safety Code Section 1798.200 states the following:

_*Any of the following actions shall be considered evidence of a threat to the public health and safety and may result in the denial, suspension, or revocation of a certificate or license issued under this division, or in the placement on probation of a certificate or licenseholder under this division:
1 - Fraud in the procurement of any certificate or license under this division.
2 - Gross negligence.
3 - Repeated negligent acts.
4 - Incompetence.
5 - The commission of any fraudulent, dishonest, or corrupt act which is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, and duties of prehospital personnel.
6 - Conviction of any crime which is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, and duties of prehospital personnel.  The record of conviction or a certified copy of the record shall be conclusive evidence of the conviction.
7 - Violating or attempting to violate directly or indirectly, or assisting in or abetting the violation of, or conspiring to violate, any provision of this division or the regulations adopted by the authority pertaining to prehospital personnel.
8 - Violating or attempting to violate any federal or state statute or regulation which regulates narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances.
9 - Addiction to the excessive use of, or the misuse of, alcoholic beverages, narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances. 
10 - Functioning outside the supervision of medical control in the field care system operating at the local level, except as authorized by any other license or certification.
11 - Demonstration of irrational behavior or occurrence of a physical disability to the extent that a reasonable and prudent person would have reasonable cause to believe that the ability to perform the duties normally expected may be impaired.
12 - Unprofessional conduct exhibited by any of the following:
A - The mistreatment or physical abuse of any patient resulting from force in excess of what a reasonable and prudent person trained and acting in a similar capacity while engaged in the performance of his or her duties would use if confronted with a similar circumstance.  Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit an EMT-I, EMT-II, or EMT-P from assisting a peace officer, or a peace officer who is acting in the dual capacity of peace officer and EMT-I, EMT-II, or EMT-P, from using that force that is reasonably necessary to effect a lawful arrest or detention.
B - The failure to maintain confidentiality of patient medical information, except as disclosure is otherwise permitted or required by law in Sections 56 to 56.6, inclusive, of the Civil Code.
C - The commission of any sexually related offense specified under Section 290 of the Penal Code.*_

#6 pretty much gives the local EMS agency the right to deny certification for most any crime should they want to. 

The DMV also can deny an ambulance driver certificate for many of the same reasons, and it does also include the "moral turpitude" clause, which technically can include things such as extramarital sex, dishonesty (non-criminal) and a variety of other misbehaviors.

I've gone through three Federal background checks during my time in fire/EMS. I had an FBI check when I got certified as an EMT, a DOJ check when I joined the fire department, and another DOJ check when I got my ambulance driver certificate.


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## MMiz (Sep 5, 2004)

I read this story a few days ago and was just shocked.  Working for a private EMS company, I could not start work until I went through a background check.  In addition, they pull my driving record and all that good stuff.  Word is they even get notified if there are any changes to our driving records.

This story goes far beyond driving records and background checks though.  I'm just not sure how this person can be employed in a medical field.  Wouldn't you think a supervisor or someone would pick up on this type of behavior.

EMS, just like any industry, will have its bad apples I guess.


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## PArescueEMT (Sep 17, 2004)

the only way to weed out those bad apples is to have all perspective personnel undergo a psych eval and that gets costly.


I am amazed at the negligence I see here. I also am shocked how little is done about it here.


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