George Wendt, CFI
08-14-1999, 03:16 AM
Here's the text of an AP article that should generate some interesting discussion:
PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) Three Plainfield rescue volunteers have been suspended while state health authorities investigate an allegation that they placed a premature newborn into a plastic bag meant for medical waste.
The baby, tiny Justin Kaishaun, died in a hospital June 4, two days after the emergency medics allegedly told his family and police officers that the 1 pound, 4 ounce child would not survive.
The rescuers had responded to a 911 call from the home of the mother, Phylteea Davis, who had given birth suddenly.
A Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center emergency room physician confirmed that the child arrived at the hospital in the plastic waste bag, a police report stated.
The state Department of Health indefinitely suspended emergency medical technicians Aaron Spivey, Dawn Marie Warnick and Daniel Cone for not following proper medical procedure, according to a departmental letter obtained by The Star-Ledger of Newark and reported in the newspaper's Thursday editions.
Doctors said EMTs should not judge the likelihood of survival, according to the police report. Instead, state rules instruct them to keep a premature newborn warm and dry and monitor its vital signs.
The boy died at Saint Barnabas Medical Center after being transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit there. Officials estimated that he had been in his mother's womb for 23 to 24 weeks, a term which normally provides a 40-percent chance of survival.
Health department spokesman Dennis McGowan said state officials are still investigating whether the child received adequate medical care from the EMTs.
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Here's the text of an article from the Newark NJ Star Ledger that should curl your hair!
"EMT 'isn't worried' about probe of actions with newborn"
8/13/99
By Jennifer Golson
STAFF WRITER
One of the three rescue squad members accused of improperly transporting a premature newborn in a plastic bag defended his actions, saying he is "not worried" about the state inquiry or the temporary suspension of his state certification.
"There's nothing to worry about when you know you did everything right," Aaron Spivey said, declining to elaborate further.
But doctors and emergency medical experts said yesterday it is not proper to transport a premature newborn to a hospital in a plastic medical waste bag, which is what authorities say the three Plainfield Rescue Squad volunteers did in June. The baby died two days later.
The state Department of Health has indefinitely suspended the volunteers as the agency investigates a complaint that they put the infant -- born four months too soon -- into such a bag, telling police at the scene that it probably couldn't be saved.
"I would treat that baby as if they were alive until I got to a hospital," said Carol Trecolis, president of the Metuchen First Aid Squad. "It's not my place to say to a mother, 'Hey your baby is dead.'"
"Even if the baby was born and obviously had been dead for a while, I would still wrap that baby up with a towel or blanket," said Trecolis.
That is not what Plainfield police said emergency medical technicians Spivey, Dawn Marie Warnick and Daniel Cone did after arriving at an Evona Avenue home where 16-year-old Phylteea Davis delivered the baby boy just after 3 a.m. June 2.
Police reports said they told a patrolman there to cancel a mobile intensive care unit on its way from nearby Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, put the infant into the plastic bag and told the officer, "The fetus was not viable and could not be saved."
Joffrey Hill, an attorney representing the Plainfield Rescue Squad, said the squad would issue a statement in a few days, but declined to comment on the issue yesterday.
Warnick and Cone have declined to comment about the incident or the state inquiry and Sue Kessen, the rescue squad's executive director, refused to talk about the situation at all.
"Even if it was a normal delivery, I would never cancel (paramedics from a mobile intensive care unit). You never know if you would have a problem with a baby," said Trecolis.
The first step for any birth, premature or otherwise, is to cover the baby with a towel or blanket, said Bryan Fischberg, who trains emergency medical technicians at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
"They should be swaddled as rapidly as you can," Fischberg said. "There is nothing that says if you don't believe the baby is viable that it should be put into a bio-hazardous bag."
Fischberg yesterday said emergency medical technicians do not have enough training to make a sophisticated determination about a child's viability.
Childbirth is only part of the 120 hours of training emergency medical technicians receive. They are basically instructed to try to resuscitate the baby, dry off the child and wrap it as soon as possible, Fischberg said.
Emergency medical technicians are also supposed to be in constant contact with a physician, said Dr. Thomas Hegyi, director of neonatology at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick.
"The doctors make the decision of the condition of the baby. People don't realize how well these babies can do," said Hegyi.
Information in police reports, written by Plainfield police Detective Jorge Jimenez, said he found the rescue squad members had not followed proper procedures for treating premature infants.
Depending on the outcome of the state inquiry, Spivey, Warnick and Cone could lose their state certification as emergency medical technicians, rendering them unable to serve in that capacity on a rescue squad, or they could remain suspended until they complete additional training, said state Health Department spokesman Tom Breslin.
The rescue squad could also be held responsible if the state finds there were deficiencies with equipment or that the squad didn't have the proper training manuals accessible, Breslin said.
__________
Oh yeah...an article that was published in the Star Ledger yesterday stated that the EMT's tried to get the PD officer to write a report that this was an appropriate way to handle this situation. He wouldn't do it.
Comments?
PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) Three Plainfield rescue volunteers have been suspended while state health authorities investigate an allegation that they placed a premature newborn into a plastic bag meant for medical waste.
The baby, tiny Justin Kaishaun, died in a hospital June 4, two days after the emergency medics allegedly told his family and police officers that the 1 pound, 4 ounce child would not survive.
The rescuers had responded to a 911 call from the home of the mother, Phylteea Davis, who had given birth suddenly.
A Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center emergency room physician confirmed that the child arrived at the hospital in the plastic waste bag, a police report stated.
The state Department of Health indefinitely suspended emergency medical technicians Aaron Spivey, Dawn Marie Warnick and Daniel Cone for not following proper medical procedure, according to a departmental letter obtained by The Star-Ledger of Newark and reported in the newspaper's Thursday editions.
Doctors said EMTs should not judge the likelihood of survival, according to the police report. Instead, state rules instruct them to keep a premature newborn warm and dry and monitor its vital signs.
The boy died at Saint Barnabas Medical Center after being transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit there. Officials estimated that he had been in his mother's womb for 23 to 24 weeks, a term which normally provides a 40-percent chance of survival.
Health department spokesman Dennis McGowan said state officials are still investigating whether the child received adequate medical care from the EMTs.
_________________
Here's the text of an article from the Newark NJ Star Ledger that should curl your hair!
"EMT 'isn't worried' about probe of actions with newborn"
8/13/99
By Jennifer Golson
STAFF WRITER
One of the three rescue squad members accused of improperly transporting a premature newborn in a plastic bag defended his actions, saying he is "not worried" about the state inquiry or the temporary suspension of his state certification.
"There's nothing to worry about when you know you did everything right," Aaron Spivey said, declining to elaborate further.
But doctors and emergency medical experts said yesterday it is not proper to transport a premature newborn to a hospital in a plastic medical waste bag, which is what authorities say the three Plainfield Rescue Squad volunteers did in June. The baby died two days later.
The state Department of Health has indefinitely suspended the volunteers as the agency investigates a complaint that they put the infant -- born four months too soon -- into such a bag, telling police at the scene that it probably couldn't be saved.
"I would treat that baby as if they were alive until I got to a hospital," said Carol Trecolis, president of the Metuchen First Aid Squad. "It's not my place to say to a mother, 'Hey your baby is dead.'"
"Even if the baby was born and obviously had been dead for a while, I would still wrap that baby up with a towel or blanket," said Trecolis.
That is not what Plainfield police said emergency medical technicians Spivey, Dawn Marie Warnick and Daniel Cone did after arriving at an Evona Avenue home where 16-year-old Phylteea Davis delivered the baby boy just after 3 a.m. June 2.
Police reports said they told a patrolman there to cancel a mobile intensive care unit on its way from nearby Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, put the infant into the plastic bag and told the officer, "The fetus was not viable and could not be saved."
Joffrey Hill, an attorney representing the Plainfield Rescue Squad, said the squad would issue a statement in a few days, but declined to comment on the issue yesterday.
Warnick and Cone have declined to comment about the incident or the state inquiry and Sue Kessen, the rescue squad's executive director, refused to talk about the situation at all.
"Even if it was a normal delivery, I would never cancel (paramedics from a mobile intensive care unit). You never know if you would have a problem with a baby," said Trecolis.
The first step for any birth, premature or otherwise, is to cover the baby with a towel or blanket, said Bryan Fischberg, who trains emergency medical technicians at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
"They should be swaddled as rapidly as you can," Fischberg said. "There is nothing that says if you don't believe the baby is viable that it should be put into a bio-hazardous bag."
Fischberg yesterday said emergency medical technicians do not have enough training to make a sophisticated determination about a child's viability.
Childbirth is only part of the 120 hours of training emergency medical technicians receive. They are basically instructed to try to resuscitate the baby, dry off the child and wrap it as soon as possible, Fischberg said.
Emergency medical technicians are also supposed to be in constant contact with a physician, said Dr. Thomas Hegyi, director of neonatology at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick.
"The doctors make the decision of the condition of the baby. People don't realize how well these babies can do," said Hegyi.
Information in police reports, written by Plainfield police Detective Jorge Jimenez, said he found the rescue squad members had not followed proper procedures for treating premature infants.
Depending on the outcome of the state inquiry, Spivey, Warnick and Cone could lose their state certification as emergency medical technicians, rendering them unable to serve in that capacity on a rescue squad, or they could remain suspended until they complete additional training, said state Health Department spokesman Tom Breslin.
The rescue squad could also be held responsible if the state finds there were deficiencies with equipment or that the squad didn't have the proper training manuals accessible, Breslin said.
__________
Oh yeah...an article that was published in the Star Ledger yesterday stated that the EMT's tried to get the PD officer to write a report that this was an appropriate way to handle this situation. He wouldn't do it.
Comments?