Paramedic charged in patients death

[FiremanMike]

Former paramedic facing manslaughter charge in patient death, accused of giving wrong meds

A former Sioux City Fire Rescue paramedic allegedly gave a patient the wrong medication before that patient died.

www.kktv.com

Cliff notes - accidentally gave roc instead of ketamine for an agitated patient. Didn’t tell anyone, apparently didn’t rapidly intubate, patient coded but died 2 days later from hypoxic brain death.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We have a serious job with serious responsibilities and our actions have serious consequences.

I’m not as upset with the med error, it happens, I’m upset that she didn’t tell anyone on the truck which could have facilitated emergent intubation and prevented the patients death.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Exactly, med errors can and do happen but this paramedic did not report it to the hospital and more importantly did not take the appropriate steps to correct the issue they caused. There were a cascade of failures that ended with this patient dying. A Paramedic Assisted Death if you may

 

[DrParasite]

He's the only paramedic on scene, telling others wouldn't have changed anything; he told the ER doc who was treating the patient. If anything, he should have intubated the patient, and he was the only person who could have intubated the patient.

Criminal charges? for a medication error?

is this the paramedic's fault, or a systemic fault? IE, what controls were in place that would have prevented this form happening? Was it malicious, or negligent? Civil lawsuit, sure, but if it was a systemic issue, criminal charges seem inappropriate (esp if their were no controls in place to prevent this medication error from occuring).

 

[FiremanMike]

He's the only paramedic on scene, telling others wouldn't have changed anything; he told the ER doc who was treating the patient. If anything, he should have intubated the patient, and he was the only person who could have intubated the patient.

Criminal charges? for a medication error?

is this the paramedic's fault, or a systemic fault? IE, what controls were in place that would have prevented this form happening? Was it malicious, or negligent? Civil lawsuit, sure, but if it was a systemic issue, criminal charges seem inappropriate (esp if their were no controls in place to prevent this medication error from occuring).

What’s negligent is she knew she did it before he went down and did nothing to prepare to take the airway. I don’t care if there wasn’t another paramedic doe 50 miles, everyone on scene needed to know what happened so they could work as a team to prevent the outcome which occurred.

This was a simple fix. Secure the airway, sedate the patient, breathe for them, let the hospital wake them up in a controlled manner. Instead this patient went into hypoxic cardiac arrest, which means she sat around and did nothing for several minutes until the patient decomposated.

I have zero problems with criminal charges here, just like with Vaught..

 

[FiremanMike]

People get lost in the weeds on these cases, just like with Vaught. In both cases, the med error is not the criminally negligent part, the lack of care after the fact is.

 

[DrParasite]

This was a simple fix. Secure the airway, sedate the patient, breathe for them, let the hospital wake them up in a controlled manner. Instead this patient went into hypoxic cardiac arrest, which means she sat around and did nothing for several minutes until the patient decomposated.

I'm not a roc expert by any stretch, but could a BVM have prevented any issues? I know the patient went into unconscious, then cardiac arrest; with roc being a paralytic, and not a sedative, could they have simply bagged the patient (keep em conscious? probably not a good idea) until they made it to the hospital? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539888/ says it has a duration of 35 minutes, which is a lot of bagging, but doable, in theory?

I have zero problems with criminal charges here, just like with Vaught..

I respect your consistency. I think the circumstances are different here, esp if the system lacked any controls to prevent it from happening (color coded vials, separate pouches for paralytics, etc), but if she didn't do what should have been done (accidently give Roc, oops, better RSI and intubate until you get the hospital, no other options), and due to her inaction, it resulted in a death, I can see your perspective.

I might not agree with it (I'm on the fence, since you explained why you think charges are justified), but I can definitely understand why charges are warranted.

I do think that, regardless of the reason, prison isn't justified for this former paramedic, however a large civil suit is warranted, and she probably should finding a new profession.