Fake Paramedic busted in CO...after 17 months!

[akflightmedic]

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?sto...9&catid=339

DENVER – The man who faked his way into a job as a paramedic was entrusted with training fellow employees, according to co-workers.

When questioned by 9NEWS, American Medical Response, AMR, admitted that one of its paramedics, Todd Teel, was caught in December 2007 with a forged license. He was not a certified paramedic during the 17 months he worked as one at AMR's Denver and Longmont divisions.

A former co-worker, who rode in ambulances with Teel, said there were questions about his competence.

The man, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing employment in the emergency medical services field, said he spoke out because he worries Teel embarrassed the profession.

"This hurts our reputation and hurts our field to have someone going out there pretending to be a paramedic," he said. "The public trusts us."

Teel's former partner said he had occasional doubts about his competence.

"I wasn't impressed," he said. "But he was in charge of the car."

The former AMR employee said Teel would sometimes be challenged on his medical knowledge by trainees who noticed his blunders.

"When you're in the field, you get a feeling for who you (would) want if one of your family members was in need of an ambulance," the man said. "And the feeling a lot of people got from Todd Teel was you'd rather drive yourself if he showed up."

Several former co-workers contacted 9NEWS following a report Thursday that Teel had been caught in Colorado and Wyoming trying to pass off forged paramedic credentials.

Teel, 40, worked as a credentialed paramedic for Greenwood Village-based American Medical Response, AMR, from July 2006 until December 2007.

The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, NREMT, said Teel forged a paper credential to indicate that he had received the required 1,200 hours, or two years, of training needed to be a paramedic.

According to the Colorado Department of Health, paramedics are entrusted to administer dozens of drugs and perform the most advanced life-saving measures allowed in pre-hospital patient care.

"The risk is tremendous in terms of the public's health, safety and welfare," said Randy Kuykendall, head of the state's Emergency Medical and Trauma Services Section.

"If the provider is unable to appropriately assess when to use which tools, those can be very dangerous," he said.

Kuykendall said AMR should have checked Teel's documentation against state or national records, both of which are available online and would have revealed the forgery.

"The responsibility and the onus is really on the EMS agency to verify that the folks they're hiring really are who and what they say they are," Kuykendall said.

NREMT recommends that all paper credentials are checked against the national database to avoid fraud.

Teel was a certified emergency medical technician, or EMT, from 2004 to 2007. NREMT reports Teel was never a certified paramedic.

Kuykendall stressed that the entry-level EMT certification requires far less medical knowledge than the paramedic certification, which is generally offered as a two-year degree program.

"The gulf between the two in terms of skill, knowledge and critical thinking is definitely huge," he said. "They are clearly not equivalent to each other by any means."

AMR issued a written statement to 9NEWS in response to a list of questions and a request for an interview.

The statement said, in part, that Teel was promoted from EMT to paramedic when "he provided credentials to AMR stating that he had completed a nationally certified paramedic training course and had passed all required tests."

AMR said Teel's doctored documents were discovered 17 months after he began work as a paramedic when he requested a transfer from the metro area to Longmont. A photo taken by a staff photographer for The Longmont Times-Call shows Teel working in Longmont in mid-December.

"He was immediately placed on unpaid leave and was not allowed to work any further shifts," the statement read. "Teel terminated his employment with AMR shortly after being placed on leave."

AMR reported its discovery to the state which confirmed Teel was not a certified paramedic. AMR also reported the situation to the Longmont Fire Department, which did not notify law enforcement.

AMR wrote that it "enhanced its credentialing verification and tracking process to help assure that this issue does not reoccur."

The company did not respond to a question asking if it had investigated whether Teel injured or killed a patient in his care. The company also did not answer a 9NEWS inquiry as to whether it would notify patients that had been cared for by Teel.

AMR did not say what steps it took to verify Teel's credential and did not respond when asked approximately how many calls he responded to in his time as a paramedic.

Colin Breese, an attorney who specializes in criminal law, said the situation presents a number of legal issues for Teel and AMR, especially if it's found that Teel harmed a patient.

Breese also noted that a defense attorney could challenge results of a blood test based on a sample taken by Teel, say, for a drunk driving case.

The Department of Health said is not illegal in Colorado to impersonate a paramedic.

A representative of the Wyoming Department of Health told 9NEWS that Teel tried to pass off his forged credential there in February, after he was detected in Colorado.

The document was flagged and Teel's attempt at employment was rejected.

"We accept nothing at face value," said Bob Dean, Wyoming's senior EMS trainer." "When you have someone in an ambulance, that's one of the most vulnerable times of their lives."

Teel, who is believed to be living out of state, did not respond to requests for comment.

[tniuqs]

I think a head or 2 will/should roll, just who hired buddy ?

And just a few "like 17 months" to bust this guy ... wow !

[spenac]

Kuykendall stressed that the entry-level EMT certification requires far less medical knowledge than the paramedic certification, which is generally offered as a two-year degree program. WOW I bet more people take the short courses than the two year.

The Department of Health said is not illegal in Colorado to impersonate a paramedic. So whats the problem. Paramedic so easy a caveman can do it. Guess I'll just move up there and say I'm a Paramedic.

[dallasdame]

Not illegal to impersonate a Medic????? Holy crap! What about a doctor or a nurse? This guy really has a big brass pair to pull that off for 17 months. I am curious to know if there was anyone seriously injured while in his care.

[emt019]

I wonder if it was a large coverage area this guy worked.. Rural versus Urban. One would think in a high run volume area his medical blunders wouldve been brought into highlight... say a large scale trauma or a mega code type call woudlve made at least someone suspicious. Its also true that i know and work with some pretty incompetent medics but it never crossed my mind that they may not actually be medics. Im confused as to how its not illegal to impersonate a paramedic.. as EMS personnel we work hard for our certifications, and even harder (ok, disregarding tater totes) to maintain our patients until definitive care. It sucks that people like that guy are the reason were still thought of as merely ambulance drivers by the public

[FormerEMSLT297]

Thats just priceless,,, I think someone in HR @ AMR will be leaving soon.

[Amhet1]

"I wonder if it was a large coverage area this guy worked.. Rural versus Urban. "

AMR Denver was the first division.... downtown Denver.....

Longmont is about an hour N of Denver... probably quite a bit slower than Denver, im sure.

Just to make things more painful, AMRs Corporate Headquarters is in a suburb of Denver :shock:

[Lone Star]

There's been much discussion over at least the last 6 months about AMR and their business practices. Anyone that has dealt with AMR, (whether applying for a job, or working for them) knows that this company has only one goal: to become the largest EMS provider in the United States.

Obviously, in order to reach this goal, there is no concern for patient care, employee issues and now we see that they don't even check the employee's qualifications!

I personally think that AMR needs to be shut down, licenses suspended and all privileges to practice permanently suspended!

AMR has been driven out of almost every county in the state of Michigan, after they have destroyed all the smaller local companies. In Michigan alone, AMR had 12 different labor unions (not local districts of the same union, but 12 different unions).

AMR has proven time and time again that they only want to be ‘the biggest’, someone should have concentrated on ‘being the best’ instead!

[firedoc5]

Hmmm. I worked with a few that had questionable skills. I wonder. Naw, couldn't have been.

[Lone Star]

Hmmm. I worked with a few that had questionable skills. I wonder. Naw, couldn't have been.

Hmmm....maayybeee........ :-k :-k :-k :-k :-k