When Firemonkeys Attack

[Dustdevil]

Horribly written article, but I think you'll get the gist.

http://www.wdsu.com/health/22894237/detail.html

Firefighters Could Gain New Role Under Proposed Bill

La. Health Official Opposes Bill, Says Firefighters Can’t Practice Medicine

POSTED: 8:53 pm CDT March 19, 2010

UPDATED: 10:57 am CDT March 20, 2010

BATON ROUGE, La. --

Every day across Louisiana, firefighters are busy battling blazes and, in some cases, saving lives.

Soon, firefighters may take on a new role if lawmakers in Baton Rouge approve a new proposed bill.

“It would be firefighters practicing medicine without oversight … no oversight by the gubernatorial-approved EMS commission,” said Dr. Jullette M. Saussy.

Saussy heads up all emergency medical services in Orleans Parish. She said proposed

House Bill 1030

, written by state Rep. Karen St. Germain from the Baton Rouge area, makes all firefighters exempt from any medical or emergency oversight when they're at a scene.

What that means, she said, is that firefighters could give medical care and there wouldn't be anyone looking over their shoulder.

“I don't think a single person in Louisiana wants an unregulated person coming in their home and responding to a medical emergency,” Saussy said. “I think people expect us to oversee the quality of care they receive.”

The Louisiana State Firemen’s Association said Saussy is using scare tactics. Nick Felton, who represents the association in New Orleans, said that what the doctor is saying is “boogie man stuff, not fact.”

Felton went on to say that “the intent of the legislation is that we don't need the EMS board in on our discipline. A lot of the firefighters think they treat us like criminals, like we’re always wrong."

Felton said the bill has the utmost of every major Firemen’s Association in the state. Saussy hopes lawmakers vote it down.

“We're not really sure what they are thinking,” Saussy said. “They can't practice medicine in the state of Louisiana without answering to someone.”

The legislative sessions starts March 29.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Dustdevil

[JakeEMTP]

Ridiculous. Unless they plan on putting an MD or at minimum a PA on every engine, this makes absolutely no sense. Of course if they provide the same "medicine" as the Collier County FD, which is basically transport everybody high flow O2 NRB and little else (based on previous discussions) the pt.'s should be fine. But is that what the people want?

It just seems that the FD doesn't want any oversight because they don't want to accountable for their actions. There is no possible way this could pass with any rational thought process.

"Felton said the bill has the utmost_______ of every major Firemen’s Association in the state."

I can only assume the missing word is "support". Not surprised at all though.

And yeah, I can't believe this article made it past a editor. Pitiful.

Edited March 20, 2010 by JakeEMTP

[Kaisu]

Horribly written article, but I think you'll get the gist.

http://www.wdsu.com/health/22894237/detail.html

Firefighters Could Gain New Role Under Proposed Bill

La. Health Official Opposes Bill, Says Firefighters Can’t Practice Medicine

POSTED: 8:53 pm CDT March 19, 2010

UPDATED: 10:57 am CDT March 20, 2010

BATON ROUGE, La. --

Every day across Louisiana, firefighters are busy battling blazes and, in some cases, saving lives.

.

HAHAHAHHAHHAHAH Stop it... you're killing me......

[Defiant1]

So will Louisiana cracker jack boxes start carrying medical licenses if this bill passes?

[Dustdevil]

Seriously, this is the most blatantly brazen anti-EMS move that I've seen the firemonkeys ever make. I have to say that I am genuinely flabbergasted. They have truly soared to a new low.

[emtannie]

Reading this article was just painful. Dust, you should have been handing out ativan to all readers when you posted this one…. And now, after reading it, my BP is so high I may need Labetalol…

What are they thinking? OK, the first line got me “Every day across Louisiana, firefighters are busy battling blazes and, in some cases, saving lives.” What dramatic effect – maybe the writer should have started the article with “it was a dark and stormy night…”

This “proposed House Bill 1030, written by state Rep. Karen St. Germain from the Baton Rouge area, makes all firefighters exempt from any medical or emergency oversight when they're at a scene,” is very very scary. No medical direction? What will the scope of practice be? Who will ensure that firefighters maintain that scope of practice? In the event of negligence, is this the loophole that allows firefighters to say “we are not medics, we are firefighters, and we were just doing what we thought was right.. sorry someone died..”

“the intent of the legislation is that we don't need the EMS board in on our discipline. A lot of the firefighters think they treat us like criminals, like we’re always wrong."

Ahhh – so you want EMS as part of fire, but you don’t want to play by EMS rules. You don’t want to be regulated, you don’t want to follow direction, and you want to just play with drugs and shiny objects without having to report to anyone. Maybe there is a reason “we’re always wrong,” and maybe that reason is exactly because the firefighters involved in pushing this legislation through are more concerned about their bruised egos than the reason EMS is in place – to provide quality care. These same people should ask themselves if they would like to be treated by an unregulated doctor or dentist, or if they would like their child to have surgery by someone who doesn't have to answer to anyone else. The theory is the same.

Very very scary…

[JPINFV]

Link to the legislation

Link

Additional notes: Caps certification fee at $15 and recert fees at $10 for fire fighters and police officers who don't work in EMS outside of their government job.

Exempts fire fighters from being investigated by the EMS board.

[jwraider]

Is there more information? I find it hard to believe some evil firefighters are going out of their way to pass a law so they are not part of an EMS system at all. There must be something else going on that is causing this side effect which definetely should not take place. No medical oversight is WRONG.

I wouldn't want to practice on my own in a million years with just a paramedic license or EMT cert. It's nice knowing that as long as I use sound judgement and common sense while following what the Medical Director wants us to do we are generally safe from litigation etc.

Out here firefighters have started a new medic school in order to improve the quality of paramedics coming out of school. Before you laugh too hard consider that there alot of new medics coming from schools such as NCTI that run 5-6 programs a year and require an EMT cert and no other pre-reqs. Something needs to be done to improve education and training in EMS and in my example the FD is trying to do that. I'm one of the few who was involved in EMS first and fire second. I've been blown away by how much better FDs train than EMS personel. Once you're hired at a private EMS company you just need to maintain you certs outside of the company. I don't know any privates around here who spend time on a daily or weekly basis training on actual patient care.

[JakeEMTP]

I am still somewhat dumbfounded. One can only assume that State Rep. St. Germain is firmly in the pocket of the FD. There is no reasonable explanation for the bill. I think she needs an psychiatric evaluation.

Of course, Felton is a puppet for the membership. He has no choice than to try and spin this so that it somehow sounds feasible.

The fact that this drivel is even being considered introduced to the folks in B.R. leads me to believe that Rep. St. Germain must also work in the Ministry of Silly Walks!

Edited March 20, 2010 by JakeEMTP

[Kiwiology]

Oh please what a lot of manure