EMT Charged With Patient Abandonment
… It could happen to you
That’s what EMT Paul Casson of the Bronx is learning. On New Years Eve, Paul was waiting to drop off a five 
year old child at Lincoln Hospital. Per investigators, Paul got tired of waiting, so he decided to forge a signature on his run sheet and leave the child behind.
Apparently the child had non-life threatening injuries and Paul figured someone would be by shortly to take care of him. Now Paul is being charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Here’s the crazy part.
If he’s convicted, this guy could spend the next seven years in prison thinking about what it means to be an advocate for your patient. The good news is that most of us don’t need laws to tell us to take good care of people and protect them. But Paul’s story is certainly a good reminder.
We’re called caregivers for a reason. We’re supposed to take care of people. No matter how unfairly we are treated by others. No matter how urgent the needs of our lives or our systems. No matter how long it takes. We don’t leave the patients side until we know they are safe. Period.
This was a bad mistake, but I really hope this poor dude doesn’t spend years in prison contemplating the decisions of that night. The best legal advice I’ve ever received was this, ”Take good care of your patient.” Hopefully none of us will ever need to learn this lesson the way Paul Casson is learning it.
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Tags: abandonment, advocate, care giver, EMS, EMT, patient abandonment, patient advocate
